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Frontispiece. 


.ECLECTIC  READINGS 


STORIES  OF 


AMERICAN  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE 


BY 

EDWARD    EGGLESTON 

Author  of  "Stories  of  Great  Americans  for  Little  Americans,"   "A  First  Book 

in  American  History,"  and  "A  History  of  the  United  States 

and  its  People  for  the  Use  of  Schools " 


NEW  YORK -:-CINCINN  ATI  •:•  CHIC  AGO 
AMERICAN    BOOK   COMPANY 


'•'  I  ^COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
AMERICAN- BOOK  COMPANY 


EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE 
W.   P.      26 

GIFT  OF 


EDUCATION 


PREFACE. 


THIS  book  is  intended  to  serve  three  main  purposes. 

One  of  these  is  to  make  school  reading  pleasant  by  supplying 
matter  simple  and  direct  in  style,  and  sufficiently  interesting  and 
exciting  to  hold  the  reader's  attention  in  a  state  of  constant 
wakefulness ;  that  is,  to  keep  the  mind  in  the  condition  in  which 
instruction  can  be  received  with  the  greatest  advantage. 

A  second  object  is  to  cultivate  an  interest  in  narratives  of  fact 
by  selecting  chiefly  incidents  full  of  action,  such  as  are  attractive 
to  the  minds  of  boys  and  girls  whose  pulses  are  yet  quick  with 
youthful  life.  The  early  establishment  of  a  preference  for  stories 
of  this  sort  is  the  most  effective  antidote  to  the  prevalent  vice  of 
reading  inferior  fiction  for  mere  stimulation. 

But  the  principal  aim  of  this  book  is  to  make  the  reader 
acquainted  with  American  life  and  manners  in  other  times.  The 
history  of  life  has  come  to  be  esteemed  of  capital  importance, 
but  it  finds,  as  yet,  small  place  in  school  instruction.  The  stories 
and  sketches  in  this  book  relate  mainly  to  earlier  times  and 
to  conditions  very  different  from  those  of  our  own  day.  They 
will  help  the  pupil  to  apprehend  the  life  and  spirit  of  our  fore 
fathers.  Many  of  them  are  such  as  make  him  acquainted  with 
that  adventurous  pioneer  life,  which  thus  far  has  been  the 
largest  element  in  our  social  history,  and  which  has  given  to 

9S4175 


the  national  character  the  traits  of  quick-wittedness,  humor,  self- 
reliance,  love  of  liberty,  and  democratic  feeling.  These  traits  in 
combination  distinguish  us  from  other  peoples. 

Stories  such  as  these  here  told  of  Indian  life,  of  frontier  peril 
and  escape,  of  adventures  with  the  pirates  and  kidnappers  of 
colonial  times,  of  daring  Revolutionary  feats,  of  dangerous  whaling 
voyages,  of  scientific  exploration,  and  of  personal  encounters  with 
savages  and  wild  beasts,  have  become  the  characteristic  folklore 
of  America.  Books  of  history  rarely  know  them,  but  they  are 
history  of  the  highest  kind,  —  the  quintessence  of  an  age  that 
has  passed,  or  that  is  swiftly  passing  away,  forever.  With  them 
are  here  intermingled  sketches  of  the  homes,  the  food  and 
drink,  the  dress  and  manners,  the  schools  and  children's  plays, 
of  other  times.  The  text-book  of  history  is  chiefly  busy  with 
the  great  events  and  the  great  personages  of  history :  this  book 
seeks  to  make  the  young  American  acquainted  with  the  daily  life 
and  character  of  his  forefathers.  In  connection  with  the  author's 
"  Stories  of  Great  Americans  for  Little  Americans,"  it  is  intended 
to  form  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  our  national  history. 

It  has  been  thought  desirable  to  make  the  readings  in  this  book 
cover  in  a  general  way  the  whole  of  our  vast  country.  The  North 
and  the  South,  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  the  Pacific  slope,  and  the 
great  interior  basin  of  the  continent,  are  alike  represented  in 
these  pages. 


CONTENTS, 


FACE 

A  White  Boy  among  the  Indians       ......  9 

The  Making  of  a  Canoe 14 

Some  Things  about  Indian  Corn        ......  21 

Some  Women  in  the  Indian  Wars 26 

The  Coming  of  Tea  and  Coffee         .        .        .        .        .        .  31 

Kidnapped  Boys 37 

The  Last  Battle  of  Blackbeard 48 

An  Old  Philadelphia  School 52 

A  Dutch  Family  in  the  Revolution 54 

A  School  of  Long  Ago 59 

Stones  of  Whaling .  66 

A  Whaling  Song 74 

A  Strange  Escape       .........  76 

Grandmother  Bear 79 

The  Great  Turtle 83 

The  Rattlesnake  God 87 

Witchcraft  in  Louisiana     ........  90 

A  Story  of  Niagara 97 

Among  the  Alligators                  .......  101 

Jasper     ............  104 

Song  of  Marion's  Men 107 

A  Brave  Girl 108 

A  Prisoner  among  the  Indians no 

Hungry  Times  in  the  Woods         .         .        .        .        .        •        .116 

7 


8 

PACK 

Scouwa  becomes  a  White  Man  again                 .        .        .        .  121 
A  Baby  Lost  in  the  Woods    .         .        .        •        •        •        .        .122 

Elizabeth  Zane  .        .        . 128 

The  River  Pirates  ..........  133 

Old-fashioned  Telegraphs 137 

A  Boy's  Foolish  Adventure 147 

A  Foot  Race  for  Life          ........  152 

Loretto  and  his  Wife 158 

A  Blackfoot  Story 163 

How  Fremont  crossed  the  Mountains 166 

Finding  Gold  in  California 171 

Descending  the  Grand  Canyon 178 

The-Man-that-draws-the-Handcart 183 

The  Lazy,  Lucky  Indian         ........  191 

Peter  Petersen 194 

The  Greatest  of  Telescope  Makers 201 

Adventures  in  Alaska 207 


STORIES   OF  AMERICAN   LIFE  AND 
ADVENTURE. ^j  V. 


A   WHITE    BOY  AMONG    THE    INDIANS. 

AMONG  the  people  that  came  to  Virginia  in  1609, 
two  years  after  the  colony  was  planted,  was  a  boy 
named  Henry  Spelman.  He  was  the  son  of  a  well- 
known  man.  He  had  been  a  bad  and  troublesome 
boy  in  England,  and  his  family  sent  him  to  Vir 
ginia,  thinking  that  he  might  be  better  in  the  new 
country.  At  least  his  friends  thought  he  would 
not  trouble  them  so  much  when  he  was  so  far  away. 

Many  hundreds  of  people  came  at  the  same  time 
that  Henry  Spelman  did.  Captain  John  Smith  was 
then  governor  of  the  little  colony.  He  was  puzzled 
to  know  how  to  feed  all  these  people.  As  many  of 
them  were  troublesome,  he  was  still  more  puzzled 
to  know  how  to  govern  them. 

In  order  not  to  have  so  many  to  feed,  he  sent 
some  of  them  to  live  among  the  Indians  here  and 
there.  A  chief  called  Little  Powhatan  asked  Smith 
to  send  some  of  his  men  to  live  with  him.  The 

9 


IO 


Indians  wanted  to  get  the  white  men  to  live  among 
them,  so  as  to  learn  to  make  the  things  that  the 
white  men  had.  Captain  Smith  agreed  to  give  the 
boy  Henry  Spelman  to  Little  Powhatan,  if  the  chief 
wb'uld  give  hmVa'place  to  plant  a  new  settlement. 

JjSpiHiaiu  staid  awhile  with  the  chief,  and  then  he 
went  back  to  the  English  at  Jamestown. 

But  when  he  came  to  Jamestown  he  was  sorry 
that  he  had  not  staid  among  the  Indians.  Cap 
tain  John  Smith  had  gone  home  to  England. 
George  Percy  was  now  governor  of  the  English. 
They  had  very  little  food  to  eat,  and  Spelman  began 
to  be  afraid  that  he  might  starve  to  death  with  the 
rest  of  them.  Powhatan  —  not  Little  Powhatan, 
but  the  great  Powhatan,  who  was  chief  over  all  the 
other  chiefs  in  the  neighborhood  —  sent  a  white 
man  who  was  living  with  him  to  carry  some  deer 
meat  to  Jamestown.  When  it  came  time  for  this 
white  man  to  go  back,  he  asked  that  some  of  his 
countrymen  might  go  to  the  Indian  country  with 
him.  The  governor  sent  Spelman,  who  was  glad 
enough  to  go  to  the  Indians  again,  because  they 
had  plenty  of  food  to  eat. 

Three  weeks  after  this,  Powhatan  sent  Henry 
Spelman  back  to  Jamestown  to  say  to  the  English, 
that  if  they  would  come  to  his  country,  and  bring 
him  some  copper,  he  would  give  them  some  corn  for 


II 

it.  The  Indians  at  this  time  had  no  iron,  and  what 
little  copper  they  had  they  bought  from  other  Indi 
ans,  who  probably  got  it  from  the  copper  mines  far 
away  on  Lake  Superior. 

The  English  greatly  needed  corn,  so  they  took 
a  boat  and  went  up  to  the  Indian  country  with 
copper,  in  order  to  buy  corn.  They  quarreled  with 
the  Indians  about  the  measurement  of  the  corn. 
The  Indians  hid  themselves  near  the  water,  and, 
while  the  white  men  were  carrying  the  corn  on  their 
vessel,  the  Indians  killed  some  of  them.  About 
this  time,  seeing  that  the  white  men  were  so  hun 
gry,  the  Indians  began  to  hope  that  they  would  be 
able  to  drive  them  all  out  of  the  country. 

Powhatan  saved  Spelman  from  being  killed  by 
the  Indians ;  but,  now  that  the  Indians  were  at  war 
with  the  white  men,  who  were  shut  up  in  James 
town  without  food,  they  wished  to  kill  all  the  white 
people  in  the  country. 

Spelman  and  a  Dutchman,  who  also  lived  with 
Powhatan,  began  to  be  afraid  that  he  would  not 
protect  them  any  longer.  So,  when  a  chief  of  the 
Potomac  Indians  visited  Powhatan,  and  asked  the 
Dutchman  and  the  boy  to  go  to  his  country,  they 
left  Powhatan  and  went  back  with  them.  Powhatan 
sent  messengers  after  them,  who  killed  the  Dutch 
man.  Henry  Spelman  ran  away  into  the  woods. 


12 

Powhatan's  men  followed  him,  but  the  Potomacs 
got  hold  of  Powhatan's  men,  and  held  them  back 
until  Spelman  could  get  away.  The  boy  managed 
at  last  to  get  to  the  country  of  the  Potomac  Indians. 

It  was  very  lucky  for  Spelman  that  he  was  among 
the  Indians  at  this  time.  Nearly  all  the  white 
people  in  Jamestown  were  killed,  or  died  of  hunger. 
Spelman  lived  among  the  Indians  for  years.  Dur 
ing  this  time  more  people  came  from  England,  and 
settled  at  Jamestown.  A  ship  from  Jamestown 
came  up  into  the  Potomac  River  to  trade.  The 
captain  of  the  ship  bought  Spelman  from  the  Indi 
ans.  He  was  now  a  young  man,  and,  as  he  could 
speak  both  the  Indian  language  and  the  English, 
he  was  very  useful  in  carrying  on  trade  between  the 
white  men  and  the  Indians. 

At  the  time  that  Henry  Spelman  first  went 
among  the  Indians,  they  had  no  iron  tools  except  a 
very  few  that  they  had  bought  of  the  white  people. 
They  had  no  guns,  nor  knives,  nor  hatchets.  They 
had  no  hoes  nor  axes.  They  made  their  tools  out 
of  hard  wood,  shells,  stones,  deer  horns,  and  other 
such  things.  They  had  not  yet  bought  blankets 
from  the  white  men,  but  made  their  clothes  mostly 
out  of  the  skins  of  animals. 

The  Indians  could  not  learn  much  about  the 
white  man's  arts  from  Spelman,  because  he  did  not 


13 

know  much.  Besides,  he  had  no  iron  of  which  to 
make  tools.  He  learned  to  make  arrows  of  cane 
such  as  we  use  for  fishing  rods.  He  also  learned 
to  point  his  arrows  with  the  spur  of  a  wild  turkey, 
or  a  piece  of  stone.  These  arrow  points  he  stuck 
into  the  arrow  with  a  kind  of  glue.  But  he  first 
had  to  learn  how  to  make  his  glue  out  of  deers' 
horns.  Before  he  could  make  any  of  the  tools, 
he  had  to  make  himself  a  knife,  as  the  Indians  did. 
Having  no  iron,  the  blade  of  his  knife  was  made 
out  of  a  beaver's  tooth,  which  is  very  sharp,  and 
will  cut  wood.  He  set  this  tooth  in  the  end  of  a 
stick.  You  see  how  hard  it  was  for  an  Indian  to 
get  tools.  He  had  to  learn  to  make  one  tool  in 
order  to  use  that  in  making  another  tool. 

One  of  the  principal  things  that  an  Indian  had 
to  do  was  to  make  a  canoe ;  for,  as  the  Indians  had 
no  horses,'  they  could  travel  only  by  water,  unless 
they  went  afoot.  Canoes  were  the  only  boats  they 
had.  They  had  to  make  canoes  without  any  of  the 
tools  that  white  men  use.  Let  us  explain  this  by 
a  story  about  Henry  and  an  Indian  boy.  The 
things  in  the  story  may  not  have  happened  just 
as  they  are  told,  but  the  account  of  how  things  are 
made  by  the  Indians  is  all  true. 


THE    MAKING    OF    A    CANOE. 

HENRY  had  a  young  Indian  friend  whose  name 
was  Keketaw.  One  day  Keketaw  said  to  him, 
"  Let  us  go  into  the  woods  and  make  a  canoe." 

"  If  we  had  an  ax  to  cut  down  the  trees,"  said  the 
white  boy,  "  or  an  adz,  such  as  they  have  at  James 
town,  or  if  we  could  get  a  hatchet,  we  might  make 
a  canoe ;  but  we  have  not  even  a  little  knife." 

"  We  will  make  a  canoe  in  the  Indian  way,"  said 
Keketaw.  "  I  will  show  you  how.  Let  us  get 
ready." 

"  What  shall  we  do  to  get  ready  ?  "  asked  Henry. 

"  We  must  take  our  bows,  and  we  must  make 
many  arrows,  so  as  to  get  something  to  eat,  and 
we  must  have  fishing  lines,"  said  Keketaw,  "  or  we 
shall  not  be  able  to  live  in  the  woods." 

For  some  days  the  two  boys  were  getting  ready. 
It  took  them  a  long  time  to  scrape  a  piece  of  bone 
into  a  fishhook  by  means  of  a  beaver's  tooth  set 
in  a  stick,  but  they  made  three  of  these  hooks. 
They  made  some  more  hooks  not  so  good  as  these 
by  tying  a  splinter  of  bone  to  a  little  stick.  Keke- 
taw's  mother  made  fishing  lines  for  them.  She 
took  the  long  leaves  of  the  plant  which  we  call 
Spanish  bayonet,  and  separated  these  threads  into 


15 

a  hard  cord,  rubbing  them  between  her  hand  and 
her  knee. 

"  We  must  have  swords,"  said  Keketaw. 

"  We  can  cut  our  meat  with  this,"  said  Henry, 
pointing  to  a  knife  made  of  cane,  such  as  the  Indi 
ans  called  a  pamesack. 

"  But  the  Monacans  may  come,"  said  Keketaw. 
"  If  we  should  see  one  sticking  up  his  head,  I 
should  want  a  sword  to  fight  him  with ;  and  if  we 
should  kill  him,  we  could  cut  off  his  scalp  with  it ;  " 
and  Keketaw's  eyes  glistened  a  little  at  the  thought 
of  fetching  home  a  Monacan's  scalp. 

The  Monacans  were  fierce  Indians  of  a  tribe 
living  in  the  country  west  of  the  Powhatan  Indians. 
They  were  deadly  enemies  of  Keketaw's  tribe. 

The  two  boys,  by  much  slow  work  with  stones 
and  shells  and  beaver-tooth  chisels,  managed  to 
scrape  a  wooden  sword  into  shape.  This,  Henry 
was  to  wear  at  his  back.  Keketaw,  for  his  part, 
found  a  piece  of  deer's  horn.  He  stuck  it  into  a 
stick  so  that  it  made  something  like  a  small  pickax. 
With  this  he  said  he  could  quickly  break  the  head 
of  a  Monacan.  It  would  also  serve  as  a  sort  of 
hatchet. 

The  land  round  the  village  in  which  Keketaw 
lived  had  been  cleared  of  trees.  This  had  been 
done  by  burning  the  trees  in  order  to  make  room 


16 

for  fields.  In  these  fields  the  Indians  planted  corn, 
beans,  pumpkins,  and  tobacco,  and  a  plant  some 
thing  like  a  sunflower,  which  is  called  an  artichoke. 
Of  the  root  of  this  artichoke  they  made  a  kind  of 
bread. 

For  many  miles  there  were  no  good  canoe  trees 
near  the  water.  They  had  all  been  picked  out  and 
used.  Henry  and  Keketaw  traveled  twenty  miles 
into  a  deep  woods,  and  chose  a  tree  that  would 
make  a  good  canoe,  and  that  stood  near  a  stream 
which  ran  into  the  James  River. 

The  first  thing  they  did  was  to  break  down 
young  trees  and  boughs,  and  build  themselves  a 
brush  tent.  They  made  a  bed  out  of  dry  leaves. 
The  first  night  they  had  nothing  to  eat,  for  they 
had  no  time  to  shoot  any  game.  The  next  morning 
they  were  too  hungry  to  sleep  late,  and  they  knew 
that  squirrels  are  early  risers.  Soon  after  day 
light  the  Indian  boy  killed  a  squirrel  with  an 
arrow.  Having  no  fire,  they  ate  it  without  cook 
ing;  for,  when  one  is  a  savage,  one  must  not  be 
too  nice. 

How  should  they  get  a  fire  ?  They  first  took 
a  piece  of  dry  wood,  which  they  scraped  flat  with 
stones.  Then,  with  a  blow  of  his  tomahawk  of 
deer's  horn,  Keketaw  made  a  round  hole  in  the 
wood.  One  end  of  a  dry  stick  was  placed  in  this 


17 

nole.  The  other  end  was  supported  in  the  hollow 
of  a  shell  which  Keketaw  held  in  his  hand. 

The  string  to  Henry's  bow  was  made  of  one  of 
the  cords  or  sinews  of  a  deer's  leg.  He  wound  this 
once  round  the  stick.  With  his  left  hand,  Keketaw 
then  put  some  dry  moss  about  the  stick  where  it 
entered  the  hole  in  the  dry  wood. 

When  all  was  ready,  Henry  drew  his  bow  to 
and  fro  like  a  saw.  Keketaw  pressed  the  shell 
down  on  the  upper  part  of  the  stick.  The  bow 
string  holding  the  stick  made  it  whirl  in  the  hole 
beneath.  At  first  this  seemed  to  produce  no  effect 
After  a  while  the  rapid  rubbing  of  the  piece  of 
wood  in  the  hole  made  heat.  Presently  a  very  thin 
thread  of  smoke  began  to  come  up  through  the  little 
heap  of  moss  about  the  stick.  Henry  was  now 
pretty  well  out  of  breath,  but  he  sawed  the  bow 
faster  than  ever.  At  last  the  moss  began  to 
smolder  and  to  show  fire. 

Keketaw  then  withdrew  the  smoking  stick,  and 
gathered  the  moss  together.  Lying  down  by  it, 
and  putting  his  arm  about  it,  the  Indian  lad  began 
to  blow  it  gently.  The  smoldering  fire  increased 
until  a  little  blue  flame,  which  he  could  barely  see, 
appeared.  Keketaw  now  added  some  very  thin 
paper-like  bits  of  dry  bark  and  some  small  twigs 
to  the  pile  of  smoking  moss.  These  caught  fire, 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  2 


and  sent  up  a  straw-colored  flame.     Henry  put  on 
larger  twigs  until  there  was  at  last  a  crackling  blaze. 

Taking   lighted   sticks   from   this  fire,  the  boys 
made  a  fire  all  round  the  base  of  a  large  tree  from 
which   they   meant    to   get    the    canoe. 
This   fire    they  kept   going   constantly 
for  two  days.     They  even  got  up 
at    night   to   put   dead    boughs        *jm.: 
on  it. 

On  the  third 
night  of  their 
stay  in  camp, 
they  didn't  lie 
down  at  the 
usual  time,  for 
the  tree  was 
burned  nearly 
through.  About 
two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  a 
little  breeze  rus 
tled  in  the  leaves 
of  the  great  tree. 
Slowly  at  first,  then  more  and  more  rapidly,  the 
tree  fell  with  a  tremendous  crashing  sound,  until 
with  a  final  thundering  roar  it  lay  flat  upon  the 
ground. 


Burning  down  a  Tree. 


'9 

Sleepy  as  the  boys  were,  they  did  not  lie  down 
for  the  night  until  they  had  built  a  new  fire  near 
the  trunk  of  the  tree.  Having  no  ax  to  chop  with, 
they  had  to  burn  the  log  in  two.  They  put  the  fire 
at  a  place  that  would  cut  off  enough  of  the  tree 
trunk  to  make  a  canoe. 

The  next  day  they  built  up  this  new  fire,  and 
then  went  fishing  in  the  neighboring  stream  with 
their  bone  fishhooks,  and  lines  made  of  the  Spanish 
bayonet  leaf.  In  two  days  after  the  fall  of  the 
tree  they  had  burned  off  the  log  that  was  to  make 
their  canoe,  and  had  scraped  off  all  the  bark  with 
shells. 

They  then  lighted  little  fires  on  top  of  the  log, 
and,  when  these  had  charred  the  wood  for  an  inch 
or  more  in  depth  in  any  place,  they  removed  the 
fire  and  scraped  away  the  charcoal.  Then  they 
built  another  little  fire  in  the  same  place.  These 
little  fires  were  made  with  gum  taken  from  the 
pine  trees. 

By  burning  and  scraping  they  gradually  dug 
out  the  inside  of  their  boat,  scraping  out  one  end 
of  it  while  they  were  burning  out  the  other,  and 
working  at  it  day  after  day. 

The  only  tools  they  had  for  scraping  were  shells 
from  the  river,  and  sharp  stones.  Keketaw  some 
times  used  his  deer-horn  tomahawk  for  the  same 


20 

purpose.  It  was  fourteen  days  from  the  time  they 
first  lighted  the  fire  at  the  foot  of  the  tree  until 
their  canoe  was  finished.  Two  more  days  were 
spent  in  making  paddles.  This  work  was  also 
done  by  burning  and  scraping. 

When  all  was  done,  the  canoe  was  slid  down  the 
soft  bank  into  the  water.  It  floated  right  side  up, 
to  the  delight  of  its  makers.  The  boys  now 
thought  it  would  be  a  fine  stroke  to  take  a  deer 
home  with  them.  So  they  pulled  one  end  of  their 
canoe  up  on  the  shore,  and  started  out  to  look 
for  one. 

But  the  first  tracks  they  found  were  not  deer 
tracks.  They  were  the  footprints  of  men.  Keke- 
taw  made  a  sign  to  Henry  by  turning  the  palm  of 
his  hand  toward  the  earth,  and  then  moving  the 
hand  downward.  This  meant  to  keep  low,  and 
make  no  noise.  Then  Keketaw  climbed  a  high 
pine  tree.  From  the  top  of  the  tree  he  could  see 
a  number  of  Indians  at  a  spring  of  water. 

'  The  boy  slid  down  the  tree  in  haste.  "  Mona- 
cans  on  the  war  path !  "  he  whispered  as  he  reached 
the  ground. 

Swiftly  and  silently  the  two  boys  hurried  back 
to  their  canoe.  They  wasted  no  time  in  admiring 
it.  They  gathered  their  weapons  and  fishing  lines, 
and  got  aboard.  It  was  not  a  question  of  killing 


21 

Monacans  now,  but  of  saving  themselves  and  their 
friends.  They  rowed  with  all  their  might  from 
the  start. 

For  hours  they  kept  their  new  paddles  busy. 
They  reached  the  village  after  dark,  and  when  they 
uttered  the  dreadful  word  "  Monacans,"  it  ran  from 
one  wigwam  to  another.  The  women  and  chil 
dren  shuddered  with  fear.  The  warriors  smeared 
their  faces  with  paint,  to  make  themselves  uglier 
than  ever,  and  departed.  Soon  after  the  boys  had 
started  home,  the  Monacans  had  found  their  camp 
fire  still  burning.  Thinking  they  had  been  dis 
covered,  and  knowing  that  a  strong  party  of  the 
Powhatan  Indians  might  come  after  them,  the 
Monacans  had  hurried  back  to  their  own  home 
more  swiftly  than  they  had  come. 


SOME   THINGS   ABOUT   INDIAN    CORN. 

WHEN  the  white  people  first  came  to  America, 
they  had  never  seen  Indian  corn,  which  did  not 
grow  in  Europe.  The  Indians  raised  it  in  little 
patches  about  their  villages.  Before  planting  their 
corn,  they  had  to  clear  away  the  trees  that  covered 
the  whole  country.  Their  axes  were  made  of  stone, 
and  were  not  sharp  enough  to  cut  down  a  tree. 


22 

The  larger  trees  they  cut  down  by  burning  them  off 
at  the  bottom.  They  killed  the  smaller  trees  by  build 
ing  little  fires  about  them.  When  the  bark  all  round 
a  tree  was  burned,  the  tree  died.  As  dead  trees  bear 
no  leaves,  the  sun  could  shine  through  their  branches 
on  the  ground  where  corn  was  to  be  planted. 

Having  no  iron,  they  had  to  make  their  tools  as 
they  could.  In  some  places  they  made  a  hoe  by 
tying  the  shoulder  blade  of  a  deer  to  a  stick.  In 
other  places  they  used  half  of  the  shell  of  a  turtle 
for  a  hoe  or  spade  to  dig  up  the  ground.  This 
could  be  done  where  the  ground  was  soft.  In 
North  Carolina  the  Indians  had  a  little  thing  like  a 
pickax  which  was  made  out  of  a  deer's  horn  tied 
to  a  stick.  An  Indian  woman  would  sit  down  on 
the  ground  with  one  of  these  little  pickaxes  in  her 
hand.  She  would  dig  up  the  earth  for  a  little  space 
until  it  was  loose.  Then  she  would  make  a  little 
hole  in  the  soft  earth.  In  this  she  would  plant  four 
or  five  grains  of  corn,  putting  them  about  an  inch 
apart.  Then  she  covered  these  grains  with  soft  earth. 
In  Virginia,  where  the  ground  was  soft  and  sandy, 
the  Indians  made  a  kind  of  spade  out  of  wood. 

Sometimes  they  planted  a  patch  a  long  way  off 
from  their  bark  house,  so  that  they  would  not  be 
tempted  to  eat  it  while  it  was  green.  The  Indians 
were  very  fond  of  green  corn.  They  roasted  the 


23 

ears  in  the  ashes.  Some  of  the  tribes  held  a  great 
feast  when  the  first  green  corn  was  fit  to  eat,  and 
some  of  them  worshiped  a  spirit  that  they  called 
the  "  Spirit  of  the  Corn."  f 

When  the  corn  was  dry,  the  Indians  pounded  it 
in  order  to  make  meal  or  hominy  of  it.  Some 
times  they  parched  the  corn,  and  then  pounded  it 
into  meal.  They  carried  this  parched  meal  with 
them  when  they  went  hunting  and  when  they  went 
to  war.  They  could  eat  it  with  a  little  water,  with 
out  stopping  to  cook  it.  They  called  it  Nokick, 
but  the  white  people  called  it  No-cake. 

When  the  Pilgrims  came  to  Cape  Cod,  they  sent 
out  Miles  Standish  and  some  other  men  to  look 
through  the  country  and  find  a  good  place  for  them 
to  settle.  Standish  tried  to  find  some  of  the  Indians 
in  order  to  make  friends  with  them,  but  the  Indians 
ran  away  whenever  they  saw  him  coming.  One  day 
he  found  a  heap  of  sand.  He  knew  it  had  been 
lately  piled  up,  because  he  could  see  the  marks  of 
hands  on  the  sand  where  the  Indians  had  patted  it 
down.  Standish  and  his  men  dug  up  this  heap. 
They  soon  came  to  a  little  old  basket  full  of  Indian 
corn.  When  they  had  dug  further,  they  found  a  very 
large  new  basket  full  of  fine  corn  which  had  been 
lately  gathered. 

The  white  men,  who   had  never  seen   it  before, 


24 


thought  Indian  corn  very  beautiful.  Some  of  the 
ears  were  yellow,  some  were  red.  On  other  ears 
blue  and  yellow  grains  were  mixed.  Standish  and 
his  men  said  it  was  a  "  very  goodly  sight."  The 

Indian  basket  was  round 
and  narrow  at  the  top. 
It  held  three  or  four 
bushels  of  corn,  and  it 
was  as  much  as  two 
men  could  do  to  lift  it 
from  the  ground.  The 
white  men  wondered  to 
see  how  handsomely  it 
was  woven. 

Near  the  pile  of  corn 
they  found  an  old  kettle 
which  the  Indians  had 
probably  bought  from 
some  ship.  They  filled 
this  kettle  with  corn. 
They  also  filled  their 
baskets  with  it.  They 
wanted  the  corn  for  seed.  They  made  up  their 
mind  to  pay  the  Indians  whenever  they  could  find 
them.  The  next  summer  they  found  out  who  were 
the  owners  of  this  buried  corn,  and  paid  them. for 
all  the  corn  they  had  taken.  If  they  had  not  found 


Standish  and  his  Men  find  Corn. 


25 

this  corn,  they  would  not  have  had  any  to  plant  the 
next  spring,  and  so  they  would  have  starved  to  death. 

The  people  that  were  with  Miles  Standish  settled 
at  Plymouth.  They  were  the  first  that  came  to 
live  in  New  England.  An  Indian  named  Squanto 
came  to  live  with  the  white  people  at  Plymouth. 
Squanto  was  born  at  this  very  place.  He  had  been 
carried  away  to  England  by  a  sea  captain.  Then 
he  had  been  brought  back  by  another  captain  to 
his  own  country.  When  he  got  back  to  Plymouth, 
he  found  that  all  the  people  of  his  village  had  died 
from  a  great  sickness.  He  went  to  live  with 
another  tribe  near  by.  When  the  white  people 
came  to  Plymouth,  they  settled  on  the  ground  where 
Squanto's  people  had  lived.  As  he  could  speak 
some  English,  and  as  all  his  own  tribe  were  dead, 
he  now  came  to  live  with  the  white  people. 

The  people  at  Plymouth  did  not  know  how  to 
plant  the  corn  they  had  found,  but  Squanto  taught 
them.  By  watching  the  trees,  the  Indians  knew 
when  to  put  their  corn  into  the  ground.  When  the 
young  leaf  of  the  white  oak  tree  was  as  large  as  a 
squirrel's  ear,  they  knew  that  it  was  time  to  put 
their  corn  into  the  ground.  Squanto  taught  the 
white  people  how  to  catch  a  kind  of  fish  which 
were  used  to  make  their  corn  grow.  They  put  one 
or  two  fishes  into  each  hill  of  corn,  but  they  were 


26 

obliged  to  watch  the  cornfield  day  and  night  for 
two  weeks  after  planting.  If  they  had  not  watched 
it,  the  wolves  would  have  dug  up  the  fishes,  and  the 
corn  with  them. 

The  white  people  learned  also  to  cook  their  corn 
as  the  Indians  did.  They  learned  to  eat  hominy 
and  samp,  and  these  we  still  call  by  their  Indian 
names.  "  Succotash  "  is  another  Indian  word.  The 
white  people  learned  from  the  Indians  to  use  the 
husks  of  Indian  corn  to  make  things.  The  Indians 
made  ropes  of  corn  husks,  and  in  some  places  they 
made  shoes  of  plaited  husks.  The  white  people 
in  early  times  made  their  door  mats  and  horse 
collars  and  beds  of  corn  husks.  They  also  twisted 
and  wove  husks  to  make  seats  for  their  chairs. 

Of  all  the  plants  that  grew  in  America,  Indian 
corn  was  the  most  important  to  the  Indians.  It 
was  also  of  the  most  value  to  the  first  white  people 
who  came  to  this  country. 

SOME  WOMEN   IN   THE  INDIAN   WARS. 

WHEN  white  people  first  came  to  this  country, 
they  had  much  trouble  with  the  Indians.  After  a 
while,  when  they  had  learned  to  defend  themselves 
and  got  used  to  danger,  they  did  not  mind  it  much. 
Even  the  women  became  as  brave  as  soldiers. 


27 

In  very  early  times  there  were  some  families  of 
people  from  Sweden  living  not  far  from  where 
Philadelphia  now  stands.  One  day  the  women 
were  all  together  boiling  soap.  It  was  the  custom 
then  to  make  soap  at  home.  Water  was  first 
poured  through  ashes  to  make  lye.  People  put 
this  lye  into  a  large  kettle,  and  then  threw  into  it 
waste  pieces  of  meat  and  bits  of  fat  of  all  kinds. 
After  boiling  a  long  time,  this  mixture  made  a  kind 
of  soft  soap,  which  was  the  only  soap  the  early  set 
tlers  had.  The  large  kettle  in  which  the  soap  was 
boiled  was  hung  on  a  pole.  This  pole  was  held  up 
by  two  forked  sticks  driven  into  the  ground.  A 
fire  was  kept  burning  under  the  kettle.  Of  course, 
this  soap  boiling  took  place  out  of  doors. 

Some  Indians,  creeping  through  the  woods,  saw 
the  women  together  without  any  men.  They 
thought  it  a  good  chance  to  kill  them  or  make 
them  prisoners ;  but  the  women  caught  sight  of  the 
Indians,  and  ran  away  to  their  little  church.  The 
churches  in  that  day  were  often  built  so  they 
could  be  used  for  forts.  The  church  to  which 
these  women  ran  was  one  of  this  kind.  But  the 
women  had  no  guns  with  them.  They  knew  that 
when  they  got  into  the  church  they  would  have 
nothing  to  fight  with.  So  two  of  them  took  hold 
of  the  ends  of  the  pole  on  which  the  kettle  of  boil- 


28 


ing  soap  was  hanging,  and  carried  the  kettle  into 
the  little  church  with  them. 

The  Indians  tried  to  get  into  the  church,  but 
every  time  an  Indian  climbed  up  to  get  in,  a 
woman  would  just  dip  up  a  ladleful  of  boiling 
soap,  and  dash  it  on  him.  This  was  a  kind  of 
fighting  the  Indians  did  not  like.  They  were 
not  used  to  soap  in  any  form.  So,  when  an 
Indian  was  scalded  by  the  soap,  he  would  run 
away  in  great  pain,  and  not  try  it  again.  The 
next  Indian  that  came  got  some  of  the  same  hot 

medicine.  He  also  would 
have  to  go  away  to  cool 
off,  if  he  could. 

While  some  of  the 
women  were  watching  the 
Indians,  and  fighting  them 
with  hot  soap,  one  of  them 
took  up  a  dinner  horn 
and  blew  it.  This  din 
ner  horn  was  made  of  a 
great  shell  called  a  conch 
shell.  The  tip  of  a  conch 

Blowing'*  Conch  Shell.  she11  was   Sawed  off   SO    as 

to  make  a  hole  in  it.     By 

blowing  into  this  hole,  a  very  loud  noise  could  be 
made.     Such  horns  were  used  in  that  day  to  call 


29 

people  to  dinner,  and  to  call  the  neighbors  when 
there  was  any  danger.  The  woman  blew  the  conclvr 
shell  horn,  and  kept  on  blowing. 

The  men  who  were  away  in  the  woods  heard 
the  sound  of  the  horn.  They  knew  that  some 
thing  was  wrong,  because  the  horn  was  blowing 
when  it  was  not  dinner  time.  Either  a  house 
was  on  fire  or  the  Indians  had  come.  The  men 
took  up  their  guns  and  hurried  toward  the  little 
church.  When  the  Indians  saw  the  men  coming, 
they  ran  away. 

There  was  a  woman  in  Massachusetts  named 
Bradley.  She  had  once  been  a  prisoner  among 
the  Indians.  She  lived  in  a  blockhouse  which 
had  a  high  fence  of  posts  set  up  close  together 
all  round  it  to  keep  the  Indians  out.  Such  a 
fence  was  called  a  stockade.  One  day  Mrs.  Brad 
ley  was  boiling  soap.  The  gate  of  the  stockade 
had  been  left  open  a  little  way.  Suddenly  she 
saw  an  Indian,  with  war  paint  on  his  face  and 
his  tomahawk  in  his  hand,  rushing  in  at  the  gate. 
The  Indian  thought  it  would  be  an  easy  thing  to 
kill  Mrs.  Bradley.  But  the  woman  was  too  quick 
for  him.  She  dashed  a  ladle  of  boiling  soap  upon 
him  before  he  could  run  away.  The  soap  was  so 
hot  that  the  Indian  was  killed  by  it. 

The  Indians  came  once  more  to  take  Mrs.  Brad- 


30 

ley.  This  time,  not  having  any  soap,  she  got 
a  gun  and  shot  the  foremost  one  dead.  The  rest 
ran  away. 

In  King  Philip's  War  the  Indians  tried  to  take 
the  town  of  Hadley.  The  men  of  the  town  fought 
hard,  but  the  Indians  were  getting  the  best  of 
the  battle.  A  little  cannon  had  been  sent  from 
Boston.  It  reached  Hadley  while  the  battle  was 
going  on.  As  all  the  men  were  busy  fighting, 
the  women  loaded  the  cannon  themselves.  First 
they  put  in  powder,  and  then  small  shot  and 
nails.  When  the  cannon  was  loaded,  the  women 
took  it  to  the  men,  who  pointed  it  into  the  thickest 
of  the  crowd  of  Indians,  and  fired  it.  A  hail 
storm  of  nails  was  a  new  thing  to  the  Indians. 
Those  who  were  not  killed  ran  away  very  much 
frightened. 

There  was  a  young  girl  in  Maine  who  was  in  a 
house  when  the  Indians  attacked  it.  She  held  the 
door  shut  until  thirteen  women  and  children  could 
get  out  of  the  house  by  the  back  door,  and  pass  into 
a  blockhouse,  which  is  a  kind  of  fort.  The  Indians 
beat  down  the  door  at  last,  and  then  knocked  down 
the  brave  girl  behind  it,  but  they  did  not  kill  her. 

Sometimes  the  Indians  attacked  a  blockhouse 
when  there  were  none  but  women  in  it.  In  such 
cases  the  women  would  put  on  hats,  and  fix  their 


hair  so  as  to  look  like  men.  Then  they  would  use 
their  guns  well.  The  savages,  thinking  there  were 
men  in  the  place,  would  go  away. 

There  was  one  girl  who  was  a  captive  among  the 
Indians  for  three  weeks.  One  day  she  saw  a  horse 
running  loose  in  the  woods.  She  stripped  some 
tough  bark  from  a  tree,  and  made  a  bridle  of  it. 
Then  she  caught  the  horse,  and  put  her  bark  bridle 
on  him.  It  was  just  growing  dark  when  she 
climbed  on  his  bare  back,  for  she  had  no  saddle. 
tShe  turned  the  horse's  head  toward  the  settlements, 
and  rode  hard  all  night.  The  next  morning  she 
was  safe  among  her  friends. 


THE  COMING  OF  TEA  AND  COFFEE. 

WHEN  the  first  settlers  came  to  this  country,  tea 
and  coffee  were  unknown  to  them.  The  favorite 
drink  of  that  time  was  a  kind  of  weak  beer,  which 
was  usually  made  at  home.  The  first  settlers  in 
America  could  not  buy  drinks  such  as  they  had 
had  in  England,  and  in  a  new  country  they  often 
could  not  make  them.  So  they  found  out  ways 
of  making  other  drinks  in  place  of  them.  What 
we  call  root  beer  and  birch  beer,  and  a  drink 
flavored  with,  the  chips  of  the  hickory  tree,  were 


32 

made  in  New  England.  Farther  south  the  people 
made  a  kind  of  drink  by  mixing  water  and  molasses 
together,  and  putting  in  Indian  corn. 

Such  drinks  were  taken  at  meals  as  we  take  tea 
and  coffee.  People  also  drank  a  great  deal  of  cider. 
As  the  cows  hardly  ever  gave  any  milk  in  winter, 
children  were  given  cider  and  water  to  drink.  But 
about  fifty  years  after  the  time  that  the  first  settlers 
came  to  this  country,  people  in  England  began 
to  get  tea  and  coffee.  Tea  and  coffee  were  soon 
after  brought  into  this  country.  At  first  they  were, 
thought  to  be  medicines  good  for  many  diseases. 
Little  books  were  written  to  tell  how  many  diseases 
these  new  drinks  would  cure.  Root  beer  and  birch 
beer,  and  tea  and  coffee,  were  good  things  in  one 
way.  After  they  came  into  use,  people  did  not 
care  so  much  for  stronger  drinks. 

When  tea  first  came,  it  was  very  fashionable.  It 
was  called  the  new  China  drink.  Along  with  the 
tea,  people  brought  from  China  little  teacups  to 
drink  it  from.  Most  of  the  cups  before  this  time 
had  been  made  of  pewter.  The  new  cups  arid 
saucers  were  called  chinaware.  They  also  brought 
from  China  pretty  little  tables  on  which  they  set 
the  teacups  when  they  drank  the  tea. 

When  people  first  got  tea  in  country  places,  the'y 
did  not  know  how  to  use  it.  There  was  a  minister 


33 

in  Connecticut  who  bought  two  pounds  of  tea 
in  New  York.  He  took  it  home  with  him,  and  put 
it  away  to  use  when  anybody  in  his  house  should 
be  ill.  He  wanted  the  tea  for  medicine.  His 
daughters  had  heard  about  the  fine  ladies  in  town 
who  took  tea.  They  were  curious  to  taste  it,  and 
were  not  willing  to  wait  until  they  should  be  ill. 
So  one  afternoon,  without  letting  their  father 
know  it,  they  asked  two  young  men  who  were 
friends  cf  theirs  to  the  house.  Then  they  got  out 
the  package  of  tea,  intending  to  treat  themselves 
and  the  young  men  to  a  new  pleasure.  They  knew 
nothing  about  making  tea.  When  they  had  boiled 
it  a  long  time,  they  poured  off  the  tea  and  threw  it 
away.  They  put  the  tea  leaves  on  a  dish,  and  tried 
to  eat  them  as  one  would  eat  spinach.  This  is  the 
way  they  punished  themselves  for  disobeying  their 
father. 

Before  the  Revolution,  when  gentlemen  called  at 
fine  houses  in  the  afternoon,  the  ladies  always  gave 
them  tea  to  drink.  As  soon  as  a  gentleman's  little 
cup  was  empty,  one  of  the  ladies  would  fill  it  up 
again,  and  it  was  not  polite  to  refuse  to  drink  all 
the  tea  that  was  offered.  A  French  prince  who 
was  in  Philadelphia  during  the  Revolution  drank 
twelve  little  cups  of  tea  one  afternoon.  The  ladies 
kept  giving  him  more,  and  the  poor  prince  did  not 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  3 


know  how  to  stop  them 
until  another  French 
gentleman  told  him  pri 
vately  that  if  he  would 
lay  his  teaspoon  across 
the  top  of  the  cup  no 
more  tea  would  be 
poured  in.  He  put  the 
teaspoon  across  the  tea 
cup  as  a  sign  that  he 
did  not  wish  to  drink 
any  more. 

Long  after  tea  and 
coffee  were  in  use  in 
this  country  they  were 
not  known  in  the  back 
woods.  The  people  on 
the  frontier  drank  tea  made  from  the  root  of  the 
sassafras  tree  or  from  the  leaves  of  some  wild  vines. 
The  whole  work  of  preparing  food  was  done  at 
home.  When  they  wanted  to  grind  meal,  they  did 
it  by  pounding  corn  in  a  hole  cut  in  the  stump 
of  a  tree.  They  used  a  large  stone  pounder  which 
was  tied  by  a  rope  to  a  limb  of  a  tree  above.  After 
each  blow  the  limb  would  spring  back  and  raise 
the  pounder.  Their  corn  meal  was  sifted  through 
a  sieve  made  of  deerskin  with  little  holes  punched 


A  Colonial  Tea  Party. 


35 

through  it.  They  had  to  make  their  shoes  and 
hats  and  caps  themselves,  and  to  weave  their  cloth 
at  home. 

A  boy  who  lived  on  the  west  side  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  Mountains  in  those  days  afterward  wrote 
a  book  telling  all  about  this  rough  life.  His  name 
was  Joseph  Doddridge.  He  spent  his  boyhood  in 
a  log  cabin,  in  constant  danger  from  Indians.  The 
settlers  had  built  a  fort  in  the  middle  of  the  settle 
ment.  Sometimes  in  the  night  Joseph  would  hear 
a  man  tapping  gently  on  the  back  window  of  his 
father's  cabin.  As  soon  as  anybody  waked  up, 
the  man  would  whisper,"  Indians!  "  Joseph's  father 
would  then  take  down  his  gun.  The  children 
would  be  dressed  in  the  dark  as  quickly  as  possible. 
Such  things  as  would  be  needed  in  the  fort  were 
then  picked  up.  Not  a  word  was  spoken,  nor 
was  any  candle  lighted.  Even  the  little  children 
learned  to  be  perfectly  silent,  and  the  dogs  were 
taught  not  to  bark.  When  all  was  ready,  the 
family  would  hurry  away  along  the  foot  path  to 
the  fort.  All  the  other  families  in  the  settlement 
would  be  called  in  the  same  way. 

Every  fall  these  settlers  sent  pack  horses  over 
the  mountains.  The  horses  were  loaded  with  the 
skins  of  animals.  When  they  came  back,  they 
carried  salt,  which  was  the  one  thing  that  could 


36 

not  be  made  in  the  settlement.  But  the  men  never 
thought  it  worth  while  to  bring  home  with  them 
tea  and  coffee  or  other  unnecessary  things. 

When  Joseph  was  about  seven  years  of  age, 
he  was  sent  over  the  mountains  to  school.  The 
little  boy  was  very  much  puzzled  when  he  first 
saw  a  house  that  was  plastered  inside.  He  had 
never  in  his  life  seen  anything  but  a  cabin  built 
of  logs.  He  could  not  understand  how  a  plastered 
house  was  built.  It  seemed  to  him  like  something 
that  had  grown  that  way. 

When  supper  time  came  in  this  plastered  house, 
he  saw  a  teacup  and  saucer  for  the  first  time 
in  his  life.  The  people  in  his  neighborhood  used 
wooden  bowls  to  drink  out  of.  But  here  he  saw 
what  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  little  cup  standing 
in  a  bigger  one.  He  had  never  heard  of  coffee. 
He  only  knew  that  the  brownish-looking  stuff 
in  his  cup  was  not  milk,  or  hominy,  or  soup. 
What  to  do  with  the  little  cups,  or  how  to  make 
use  of  the  spoon  that  was  in  them,  he  could  not 
tell,  so  he  watched  the  big  folks  handle  their 
cups  and  spoons.  He  drank  the  coffee  just  as 
they  did,  but  he  disliked  it  very  much.  It  made 
the  tears  come  into  his  eyes  to  drink  it.  When 
he  got  his  cup  nearly  empty,  it  was  filled  again. 
He  did  not  dare  to  say  that  he  had  had  enough, 


37 

and  he  did  not  know  what  to  do.  At  last  he 
saw  one  man  turn  his  empty  cup  bottom  upward 
in  the  saucer,  and  lay  his  little  spoon  across  the 
bottom  of  the  cup.  That  was  the  custom  in  those 
days.  He  saw  that  this  man's  cup  was  not  filled 
any  more.  So  Joseph  drank  his  coffee  as  quickly 
as  possible,  turned  his  cup  over  in  the  saucer, 
and  laid  the  spoon  across  the  bottom.  He  was 
delighted  that  he  did  not  have  to  drink  any  more 
coffee. 


KIDNAPPED    BOYS. 

IN  the  days  when  our  country  belonged  to  Eng 
land,  white  people  were  brought  here  to  be  sold. 
Some  of  these  were  poor  people  who  could  not  get 
a  good  living  in  England.  They  came  over  to  this 
country  without  any  money.  The  captain  of  the 
ship  in  which  they  came  sold  them  in  this  country 
to  pay  their  passage. 

Men  and  women  who  were  sold  had  to  serve 
four  years ;  and  boys  and  girls,  a  longer  time. 
The  person  sold  was  just  like  a  slave  until  his  time 
was  out.  The  man  who  had  bought  him  might 
beat  him,  or  sell  him  to  another  master.  Many  of 
these  white  slaves  did  not  get  enough  to  eat. 


38 

Here  are  some  stories  of  boys  who  were  brought 
to  this  country  and  sold  before  the  Revolution. 
They  are  all  true  stories. 


THE    STORY   OF    PETER    WILLIAMSON.  —  TWICE   A    SLAVE. 

One  day  a  boy  named  Peter  Williamson  was 
walking  along  the  streets  of  Aberdeen  in  Scotland. 
The  little  fellow  was  eight  years  old.  Two  men 
met  him,  and  asked  him  to  go  on  board  a  ship  with 
them.  When  he  got  on  board,  he  was  put  down  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  ship  with  other  boys.  The 
ship  sailed  to  America  with  twenty  boys.  Like 
Peter,  the  other  lads  had  been  stolen  from  their 
parents.  They  were  taken  to  Philadelphia  and 
sold,  to  work  for  seven  years. 

Little  Peter  was  lucky  enough  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  a  kind  master.  Among  those  who  came 
to  buy  boys  off  this  ship  was  a  man  who  had  him 
self  been  stolen  from  Scotland  when  he  was  yo'ung. 
He  felt  sorry  for  little  Peter  when  he  saw  him  put 
up  for  sale.  The  price  the  cruel  captain  asked  for 
him  was  about  fifty  dollars.  The  Scotchman  paid 
this  money,  and  took  Peter  for  his  boy.  He  sent 
him  to  school  in  the  winter,  and  treated  him  kindly. 
Peter,  for  his  part,  was  a  good  boy,  and  did  his  work 


39 

faithfully.  He  staid  with  his  master  after  his  time 
was  out. 

When  Peter  was  about  seventeen  years  old,  this 
good  master  died.  He  left  to  Peter  about  six  hun 
dred  dollars  in  money  for  being  a  good  boy.  He 
also  gave  him  his  best  horse  and  saddle  and  all 
his  own  clothes.  Some  years  after  this,  Peter 
married,  and  went  to  live  in  the  northern  part  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  by  this  time  a  man  of 
property. 

One  night,  when  his  wife  was  away  from  home, 
the  Indians  came  about  his  house.  He  got  a  gun 
and  ran  upstairs.  He  pointed  the  gun  at  the 
Indians,  but  they  told  him  that  if  he  would  not 
shoot  they  would  not  kill  him.  So  he  came  down, 
and  gave  himself  up  as  a  prisoner. 

The  Indians  treated  him  very  cruelly.  He  was 
with  them  more  than  a  year.  His  sufferings  were 
so  great  that  he  wished  sometimes  that  he  was 
dead.  He  knew  that  if  he  ran  away  the  Indians 
would  probably  catch  him,  and  kill  him  in  some 
cruel  way.  But  one  night,  when  the  Indians  were 
all  asleep,  he  resolved  to  take  the  risk.  You  may 
believe  that  when  he  had  started  he  ran  with  all 
his  might. 

When  daylight  came,  he  hid  himself  in  a  hollow 
tree.  After  a  while  he  heard  the  Indians  running 


40 

all  about  the  tree.  He  could  hear  them  tell  one 
another  how  they  would  kill  him  when  they  found 
him.  But  they  did  not  think  to  look  into  the  tree. 
The  next  night  he  ran  on  again.  He  came  very 
near  running  into  a  camp  of  Indians.  But  at  last 
he  came  in  sight  of  the  house  of  a  friend.  He  was 
tired  out,  and  starving.  He  had  hardly  any  clothes 
left  on  him.  He  knocked  at  the  door.  The  woman 
who  saw  him  thought  that  he  was  an  Indian.  She 
screamed,  and  the  man  of  the  house  got  his  gun 
to  kill  him.  But  he  quickly  told  his  friend  that 
he  was  no  Indian,  but  Peter  Williamson.  Every 
body  had  given  him  up  for  dead.  But  now  all  his 
friends  were  happy  to  see  him  alive  once  more. 
He  had  twice  been  carried  into  slavery, — -once 
by  cruel  white  men,  and  once  by  yet  more  cruel 
red  men. 


SOLD    LIKE   JOSEPH.  —  STORIES   OF   TWO    KIDNAPPED   BOYS. 

You  have  heard  the  beautiful  story  of  Joseph  in 
the  Bible.  You  remember  that  he  was  sold  by  his 
brothers.  Then  he  was  carried  into  Egypt,  where 
he  became  a  great  man. 

In  1730  there  was  a  little  English  lad  at  sea  with 
his  uncle,  who  was  the  captain  of  a  ship.  Whether 
the  boy's  father  and  mother  were  dead  or  not, 


41 

history  does  not  tell.  But  the  boy  was  sailing 
on  his  uncle's  ship,  as  though  he  were  the  cap 
tain's  son. 

One  day  the  captain  was  taken  ill  at  seai  After 
a  while  he  died.  The  mate  and  the  sailors  thought 
that  they  would  like  to  steal  the  ship  and  all  the 
captain's  property.  But  it  now  all  belonged  to  the 
little  boy.  Like  Joseph's  brothers,  the  sailors  laid  a 
plan  to  get  the  boy  out  of  the  way.  You  remember 
that  Joseph's  brothers  saw  some  slave  traders  going 
by.  These  traders  were  Arabs,  like  the  Arabs  that 
carry  off  slaves  to-day.  Joseph's  brothers  stopped 
the  Arabs,  and  sold  little  Joseph  to  them.  The 
Arabs  took  Joseph  to  Egypt  and  sold  him. 

Just  so  the  mate  and  his  men  saw  a  ship  coming 
toward  them.  This  ship  had  a  great  many  people 
on  board.  They  were  Irish  people,  who  were  being 
taken  to  America  to  be  sold  as  servants. 

The  mate  hailed  the  ship,  and  made  a  bargain 
with  the  captain  and  the  mate.  He  sold  the  poor 
little  boy,  who  had  no  friends,  to  this  captain. 

Then  the  mate  and  his  men  sailed  away.  What 
became  of  them  we  do  not  know  ;•  but  the  ship, 
loaded  with  white  servants,  sailed  to  Boston.  It 
landed  at  the  Long  Wharf,  a  pier  running  far  out 
into  the  water.  The  servants  were  obliged  to 
run  up  and  down  this  wharf.  The  people  who 


came  to  buy  watched  them  to  see  how  strong  they 
might  be. 

The  little  boy  sold  by  the  mate  was  there.     He 


Selling  the  Captain's  Nephew. 

ran  up  and  down  with  the  others,  to  show  how 
nimble  his  legs  were.  He  was  bought  by  a  Mr, 
Willard. 


43 

The  boy  served  out  his  time,  and  became  free. 
He  became  a  well-known  officer  in  the  Indian  wars. 
His  name  was  Johnson.  He  did  not  become  so 
great  as  Joseph  in  Egypt,  but,  like  Joseph,  he 
gained  honor  in  the  country  into  which  he  had 
been  sold  as  a  slave. 

Here  is  another  story  of  the  same  kind.  A  little 
boy  six  years  old  got  lost  in  London.  After  he  had 
wandered  about  a  good  while,  a  ship  captain  met 
him,  and  told  him  that  he  would  take  him  to  his 
father.  The  captain  took  him  into  a  boat,  put  him 
on  board  his  ship,  carried  him  to  Maryland,  and 
sold  him.  After  the  boy  had  served  out  his  time 
and  grown  to  be  a  man,  he  became  a  rich  farmer. 

The  wicked  ship  captain  who  carried  off  the  boy 
was  caught  stealing  many  years  afterward.  In  that 
day,  thieves  were  often  sold  into  America  for  seven 
.years,  as  a  punishment.  This  captain  who  had  sold 
others  was  now  put  on  a  ship  and  sent  to  be  sold  in 
Maryland.  The  man  who  bought  him  was  the  very 
person  whom  he  had  carried  off  when  he  was  a  boy. 

You  remember  how  much  Joseph's  brothers  were 
afraid  of  him  when  they  found  themselves  in  his 
power.  This  wicked  old  sea  captain  was  frightened 
when  he  saw  that  he  was  now  a  slave  to  the  boy 
he  had  stolen.  He  was  so  much  alarmed  that  he 
killed  himself. 


44 


A   LITTLE    LORD    SOLD    INTO    BONDAGE. 

There  lived  in  Ireland  a  long  time  ago  a  certain 
Lord  Altham.  The  time  was  about  sixty  years 
before  our  American  Revolution.  This  Lord 
Altham  was  a  weak  and  foolish  man.  He  quarreled 
with  his  wife,  and  sent  her  away.  He  wasted  his 
money  in  wicked  living,  and  got  into  debt.  He 
had  a  little  son  named  James  Annesley.  "  Jemmy," 
as  he  was  called,  was  sent  to  a  boarding  school; 
but  the  father  grew  more  wicked,  and  more  careless 
of  his  son.  He  sent  the  boy  away,  and  pretended 
that  he  was  dead.  He  did  this  because  he  wanted 
to  sell  some  property  that  he  could  not  sell  if 
Jemmy  were  alive. 

Jemmy  found  himself  badly  treated  where  he 
lived.  When  he  complained,  he  was  told  that  his 
father  did  not  pay  his  board  :  so  he  ran  away.  He 
lived  in  the  streets  with  rough  boys.  He  ran  on 
errands  for  pay,  like  the  other  little  street  boys. 
But  still  the  boys  knew  that  Jemmy  was  the  son 
of  a  lord.  Strangers  were  surprised  to  hear  a  little 
ragged  boy  called  "my  lord"  by  his  playmates. 

When  he  was  about  thirteen  years  old,  his  father 
died.  Then  Jemmy  Annesley  became  Lord  Altham 
in  place  of  his  father;  but  his  uncle  Richard,  who 


45 


was  a  cruel  man,  took  Jemmy's  property,  and  called 
himself  Lord  Altham. 

The  wicked  uncle  was  afraid  that  people  would 
find  out  that  Jemmy  was  alive,  and  he  sent  a  man 
to  see  where  the  boy 

was.    When  the  boy  jji 

was  found,  his  uncle 
accused  him  of  steal 
ing  a  silver  spoon. 
He  hired  three  police 
men  to  arrest  the 
boy  and  put  him  on 
a  ship.  Poor  Jemmy 
wept  bitterly.  He 
told  the  people  he 
was  afraid  his  uncle 
would  kill  him.  The 
ship  took  him  to  Phil 
adelphia,  where  he 
was  sold  to  a  farmer 
to  serve  until  he 
should  be  of  age. 

One  day,  when  he  was  about  seventeen  years  old, 
he  came  into  his  master's  house  with  a  gun  in  one 
hand  and  a  squirrel  in  the  other.  There  were  two 
strangers  sitting  by  the  fire.  They  had  found  the 
door  open,  and  had  walked  in. 


Kidnapping  a  Lord. 


46 

One  of  the  men  said,  "  Are  you  a  servant  in  this 
house  ? " 

"  I  am,"  said  James. 

"  What  country  did  you  come  from  ? " 

"  Ireland." 

"We  are  from  Ireland  ourselves,"  said  one  of 
the  strange  men.  "  What  part  of  Ireland  are  you 
from?" 

"  From  the  county  of  Wexford." 

"We  are  from  that  county.  What  is  your 
name  ?  " 

"  James  Annesley." 

"  I  never  heard  that  name  there,"  said  the  traveler. 

"  Did  you  know  Lord  Altham  ?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  I  am  his  son." 

"  What ! "  cried  the  stranger,  "  you  the  son  of 
Lord  Altham  !  Impossible !  " 

But  the  young  man  insisted  that  he  was  Lord 
Altham's  son. 

"  Tell  me  how  Lord  Altham's  house  stands," 
said  the  stranger. 

The  young  man  told  him  enough  to  show  that 
he  knew  all  about  the  place.  Then  the  stranger 
said,  that,  if  James  ever  came  to  Ireland  to  claim 
his  estate,  he  would  do  what  he  could  to  help  him. 

James  Annesley  was  badly  treated  by  his  master. 


47 

At  length  he  ran  away,  but  he  was  retaken,  and 
put  into  a  jail  in  Lancaster.  He  was  kept  in 
prison  a  good  while.  He  had  a  fine  voice,  and  he 
amused  himself  by  singing.  The  people  used  to 
stand  outside  of  the  jail  to  hear  him  sing. 

For  running  away  he  was  obliged  to  serve  a  still 
longer  time.  He  spent  thirteen  years  in  slavery. 

When  he  got  free  at  last,  he  told  Mr.  Ellis  of 
Philadelphia  about  his  case.  This  kind-hearted 
man  gave  him  a  passage  on  a  ship  going  to  the 
West  Indies.  An  English  fleet  was  then  in  the 
West  Indies.  It  was  commanded  by  the  famous 
Admiral  Vernon.  When  the  brave  admiral  heard 
James  Annesley's  story,  he  took  him  to  England. 
In  England  James  found  friends  ready  to  help  him. 

There  was  a  long  lawsuit,  but  James's  old  friends 
and  schoolmates  came  to  court  as  witnesses  for 
him.  One  of  the  men  who  had  talked  with  him 
while  he  was  a  servant  in  Pennsylvania  told  the 
Court  about  it.  Two  of  the  policemen  that  had 
helped  to  put  little  Jemmy  on  shipboard  confessed 
the  dreadful  act  they  had  done. 

Then  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  that  James  Annes- 
ley  was  the  true  Lord  Altham.  There  was  great 
joy  among  the  people,  and  everybody  detested  the 
cruel  uncle.  The  people  made  songs  about  him, 
and  sang  them  under  his  windows.  James  Annes- 


48 

ley  was  now  called  Lord  Altham.  But  before 
the  young  lord  came  into  possession  of  his  title  and 
his  property,  he  was  taken  ill  and  died. 

I  am  glad  that  we  live  in  better  times.    Children 
are  not  kidnapped  and  sold  now. 


THE  LAST  BATTLE  OF  BLACKBEARD. 

OUR  country  now  reaches  from  one  ocean  to 
the  other.  But  in  the  days  before  the  Revolution 
there  were  only  English  colonies  stretching  up 
and  down  the  Atlantic  coast.  Merchandise  was 
carried  from  one  colony  to  another,  and  from  one 
country  to  another,  in  slow-going  sailing  vessels,  for 
there  were  neither  railroads  nor  steamships. 

In  those  old  times  there  were  robbers  on  the  sea. 
We  call  sea  robbers  pirates.  These  men  carried 
cannon  on  their  ships,  and  they  robbed  any  vessels 
not  stronger  than  they  were.  In  our  days  of  large 
steamships  a  pirate  would  not  stand  any  chance  of 
getting  away.  He  would  soon  be  caught.  Some 
of  the  pirates  of  old  times  sailed  up  and  down  the 
American  coast.  They  captured  ships  sailing  from 
America  to  Europe  and  from  Europe  to  America. 
The  worst  of  all  these  pirates  was  Blackbeard. 


49 


His  real  name  was  Thatch.  He  was  called 
Blackbeard  because  he  wore  a  long  black  beard 
that  covered  his  face.  This  made  him  look  fright 
ful  in  that  day,  when 
other  men  shaved 
their  faces  smooth. 
He  divided  his  beard 
into  locks,  and  twisted 
each  lock,  tying  it  at 
the  end  with  ribbons. 
To  make  himself  look 
still  worse,  he  fastened 
some  of  these  twists 
over  his  ears. 

When  he  was  fight 
ing  against  another 
ship,  he  wore  a  strap 
over  his  shoulders  to 
which  were  fastened 
large  pistols.  In  those 
days,  cannon  were 

touched  off  by  means  of  a  slow  match,  a  kind  of 
cord  that  burns  slowly  like  punk.  When  Black- 
beard  went  into  battle,  he  twisted  some  of  these 
slow  matches  or  cords  round  his  head,  and  stuck 
some  of  them  undei  his  hat.  The  ends  of  these 
matches  were  burning,  and  they  looked  like  fiery, 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  4 


Blackbeard. 


50 

hissing  snakes.  With  his  beard  turned  back  over 
his  ears,  and  fire  all  about  his  head,  he  seemed  to 
be  a  tall  fiend. 

Blackbeard  was  more  like  a  fiend  than  a  man. 
He  was  cruel  and  wicked  in  every  way.  Some  bad 
men  are  sometimes  kind-hearted,  but  Blackbeard 
was  always  cruel.  He  would  shoot  even  his  own 
men  in  order  to  make  his  crew  afraid  of  him. 

He  did  much  of  his  bad  work  on  the  coast  of 
North  Carolina.  Here  he  found  bays  and  sounds 
where  the  water  was  shallow.  Large  ships  could 
not  easily  follow  him  into  these  places.  The 
Governor  of  North  Carolina  was  a  bad  man.  He 
took  part  of  Blackbeard's  plunder,  and  let  Black- 
beard  go  safely  about  the  country.  The  people 
wer*e  afraid  of  the  pirate.  They  sent  to  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia,  and  asked  him  to  fit  out  a  ship  to 
capture  Blackbeard. 

Two  sloops  that  could  sail  in  shallow  water  were 
sent.  Lieutenant  Maynard  was  the  commander. 
The  ships  left  Virginia  secretly.  No  one  knew 
where  they  were  going. 

When  Maynard  came  in  sight  of  Blackbeard's 
sloop,  he  hung  out  his  flag.  Blackbeard  took  a 
glass  of  rum  and  drank  it,  calling  to  Maynard,  "  I'll 
give  you  no  quarter,  nor  take  any." 

Maynard  replied,  "  I  do  not  expect  any  quarter 
from  you,  nor  will  I  give  any." 


Si 

This  meant  that  neither  of  them  would  take  any 
prisoners,  but  that  every  man  must  fight  for  his  life. 

Maynard  tried  to  run  alongside  Blackbeard's 
ship.  He  wapted  to  take  his  men  on  board  the 
pirate  ship,  and  fight  it  out  on  her  deck.  But 
Blackbeard  had  put  a  large  negro  near  to  the  gun 
powder  on  his  ship.  He  said  to  the  negro,  "  If  the 
men  from  the  other  ship  get  on  board  of  ours,  you 
must  set  fire  to  the  gunpowder,  and  blow  us  all  up." 

Maynard  was  running  toward  the  pirate  ship  to 
get  on  board ;  but  Blackbeard  fired  all  the  cannon 
on  that  side  of  his  ship,  and  killed  some  of  May- 
nard's  men.  This  was  really  lucky  for  Maynard; 
for,  if  he  had  got  on  board,  the  negro  would  have  set 
fire  to  the  gunpowder,  and  the  pirates  and  Maynard's 
men  would  all  have  been  blown  to  pieces  at  once. 

Maynard  now  sent  his  men  down  into  the  hold 
of  the  ship.  They  were  out  of  sight  of  the  pirates, 
but  they  had  their  pistols  and  swords  ready.  The 
sloops  were  soon  close  together,  and  Blackbeard's 
men  threw  boxes  full  of  powder  and  shot,  and  pieces 
of  lead  and  iron,  on  the  deck  of  Maynard's  sloop. 
These  were  so  fixed  as  to  go  off  like  bombshells. 
But,  as  nearly  all  of  Maynard's  men  were  down 
below  the  deck,  these  boxes  did  little  harm. 

Blackbeard-,  thinking  that  most  of  Maynard's 
men  had  been  killed,  jumped  on  board  the  sloop 


52 

with  fourteen  men.  Maynard  now  called  his  men 
from  below,  and  there  was  a  desperate  fight.  Black- 
beard  was  shot  five  times,  and  was  wounded  with 
swords;  but  the  old  monster  fought  until  he  fell 
down  dead  while  cocking  his  pistol.  The  rest  of 
the  pirates  on  the  deck  of  Maynard's  ship  were 
taken  prisoners. 

Maynard's  other  sloop  was  fighting  with  the  men 
left  on  board  Blackbeard's  vessels.  These  surren 
dered,  but  they  had  trouble  to  keep  the  big  negro 
from  setting  fire  to  the  gunpowder  and  blowing 
them  all  up. 

Maynard  took  away  from  the  Governor  of  North 
Carolina  many  hogsheads  of  sugar  that  Blackbeard 
had  stolen.  Then  he  hung  the  great  ugly  head  of 
the  pirate  at  the  bow  of  his  ship,  and  sailed  back  to 
Virginia  in  triumph. 


AN   OLD   PHILADELPHIA  SCHOOL. 

THERE  was  a  schoolmaster  in  Philadelphia  before 
the  Revolution  who  did  not  like  to  beat  his  pupils 
as  other  masters  of  that  time  did.  When  a  boy 
behaved  badly,  he  would  take  his  switch  and  stick 
it  into  the  back  of  the  boy's  coat  collar  so  that  the 
switch  should  rise  above  his  head  in  the  air.  He 


53 


would  then  stand  the  boy  up  on  a  bench  in  sight 
of  the  school,  in  order  to  punish  him  by  making 
him  ashamed. 

This  schoolmaster's  name  was  Dove.  If  any  boy 
was  not  at  school  in  time,  the  master  would  send 
a  committee  of  five  or  six  of  the  scholars  to  fetch 
him.  One  of  this  committee  carried  a  lighted  lan 
tern,  while  another  had  a  bell  in  his  hand.  The 
tardy  scholar  had  to  march  down  the  street  in  broad 
daylight  with  a  lantern 
to  show  him  the  way, 
and  a  boy  ringing  the 
school  bell  to  let  him 
know  that  it  was  time 
for  him  to  be  there. 

One  morning  Mr. 
Dove  slept  too  late,  or 
forgot  himself.  The 
boys  made  up  a  com 
mittee  to  bring  the 
teacher  to  school.  They 
took  the  lantern  and 
the  bell  with  them.  Mr. 
Dove  said  they  were 

quite  right.  He  took  his  place  in  the  procession, 
and  the  people  saw  Schoolmaster  Dove  taken  to 
school  late  with  a  lantern  and  a  bell. 


The  Tardy  Schoolmaster. 


54 

The  larger  schoolboys  of  that  time  were  very  fond 
of  foot  races.  They  would  take  off  their  coats  and 
tie  handkerchiefs  about  their  heads  before  start 
ing.  The  short  breeches  they  wore  were  fastened 
at  the  knee  by  bands.  When  they  were  going  to 
run  a  race,  they  would  loosen  these  bands,  and 
pull  off  their  shoes  and  stockings.  Some  of  the 
boys  ran  barefoot  in  this  way,  but  others  wore 
Indian  moccasins.  The  race  course  was  round  a 
block;  that  is,  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile. 
Crowds  would  gather  to  see  the  boys  run,  and 
the  people  rushed  from  one  side  of  the  block  to 
the  other  to  see  which  was  leading  in  the  race. 


A    DUTCH    FAMILY    IN    THE    REVOLUTION. 

WHAT  is  now  the  State  of  New  York  was  first 
settled  by  people  from  Holland  who  spoke  the 
Dutch  language.  New  York  afterward  became  an 
English  colony,  but  the  Dutch  settlers  and  their 
descendants  still  spoke  the  language  of  Holland, 
at  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution. 

In  Flatbush,  which  is  now  a  part  of  Brooklyn, 
was  a  family  that  spoke  the  Dutch  language, 
while  they  were  true  Americans  in  feeling.  When 


55 

the  British  landed  on  Long  Island,  they  got  ready 
to  leave  the  town.  The  horses  were  hitched  to  the 
wagon,  and  such  things  as  were  thought  most  valu 
able  were  put  in.  The  first  thing  they  put  into  the 
wagon  was  the  great  Dutch  Bible  with  heavy  brass 
clasps.  A  tall  clock  was  also  carefully  lifted  into 
the  wagon.  Then  clothing  and  other  things  fol 
lowed. 

The  father  of  the  family  told  the  two  faithful 
negro  men,  Cassar  and  his  son  Mink,  how  to  take 
care  of  things.  Femmetia,  the  most  active  of  the 
daughters,  had  the  whip  in  her  hand,  and,  as  the 
sound  of  firing  was  coming  nearer  and  nearer,  she 
tapped  the  horses  on.  their  ears,  and  the  family 
dashed  away  to  the  house  of  a  cousin  who  lived 
beyond  the  region  where  the  fight  was  to  be. 

That  evening  Femmetia  helped  her  father,  who 
was  an  invalid,  to  climb  to  the  top  of  a  little  hill 
from  which  they  could  see  a  fire  raging  in  the 
village  of  Flatbush.  The  direction  of  the  fire 
showed  the  father  and  daughter  that  it  was  their 
own  house  which  was  burning. 

When  the  fight  was  over,  General  Washington's 
troops  had  been  driven  from  Long  Island.  The 
good  Dutch  family  went  back  and  found  their  house 
burned.  They  moved  into  another  house,  whose 
owner  was  still  away,  and  then  began  to  build  a  new 


56 

house.  The  mother  bought  some  boards  with  what 
money  she  had  saved,  but  she  could  not  get  any 
nails.  In  that  day  nails  were  not  made  by  machinery, 
as  they  are  now.  Each  nail  had  to  be  hammered 
out  separately  by  a  blacksmith.  Nails  made  in  this 
way  cost  a  great  deal  of  money. 

There  was  but  one  way  to  do.  Femmetia  and 
her  sister  had  to  find  nails  by  raking  over  the 
ashes  of  the  old  house.  Some  of  these  nails  were 
crooked,  and  they  had  to  be  hammered  to  make 
them  straight  enough  to  use. 

Some  American  officers,  had  been  made  pris 
oners  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  They  were 
allowed  to  go  about  the  village  after  having  given 
their  word  not  to  go  farther.  They  liked  to  help 
the  girls  find  nails  in  the  ashes,  and  hammer  them 
straight  on  the  stones.  Other  young  girls  came 
to  help  them,  so  that  there  was  a  party  of  young 
people  talking,  joking,  laughing,  and  digging  in  the 
ashes,  every  day.  It  was  fun  for  all  of  them. 
There  were  not  boards  enough  to  finish  the  house. 
The  room  in  which  the  two  sisters  slept  was  up 
stairs.  It  had  but  half  a  floor.  Where  the  rest 
of  the  floor  should  have  been  were  only  bare 
beams. 

One  night  the  negro  woman,  whose  name  was 
Dian,  came  into  the  room  below,  and  called  Fern- 


:£& 


A  Nail  Party. 

metia.  She  told  her  that  the  British  soldiers  had 
come  into  the  barn,  and  that  they  would  soon  take 
away  what  were  left  of  the  chickens. 


58 

"  You  jes'  come  down,"  said  Dian  to  Femmetia. 
So  the  old  slave  and  the  young  girl  went  out 
together.  They  carried  a  gun  and  a  broomstick. 
The  moon  was  shining.  They  took  great  pains 
not  to  let  the  soldiers  see  them.  First  they  dodged 
behind  a  great  walnut  tree.  Then,  when  they  were 
sure  the  soldiers  did  not  see  them,  they  ran  behind 
the  corncrib.  Their  next  march  brought  them 
behind  the  wagon  house,  and  then  they  slipped 
into  the  dark  shadow  of  the  barn. 

Dian  thrust  the  rifle  through  a  hole  in  the  side 
door  of  the  barn.  At  the  same  moment  the  bold 
Femmetia  threw  a  stone  which  made  the  soldiers 
look  round.  There  was  moonlight  enough  for 
them  to  see  the  muzzle  of  the  gun  coming  through 
the  door  as  though  it  were  ready  to  fire  at  them. 
They  ran  away  in  great  haste,  and  left  the  chickens 
behind. 

The  silver  plate  and  other  valuable  things  were 
buried  under  the  hearth  in  the  house.  A  lady  in 
a  neighboring  house  hid  her  gold  coins  in  the 
middle  of  a  great  round  ball  of  a  pincushion. 
Such  ball  pincushions  were  worn  by  some  of  the 
Dutch  women  at  that  time.  They  hung  them 
at  their  sides,  tied  by  a  bit  of  ribbon.  A  party  of 
English  soldiers  came  into  this  lady's  house.  They 
were  much  amused  to  see  this  ball  at  the  lady's 


59 

side.  One  of  them  rudely  cut  the  ribbon  with  his 
sword,  and  then  the  soldiers  played  ball  with  the 
cushion.  It  was  sent  here  and  there  about  the 
room.  Twice  it  fell  into  the  ashes. 

The  woman  who  owned  it  expected  that  it  would 
be  torn,  and  all  her  gold  would  spill  out,  but  she 
went  on  with  her  work.  If  she  had  shown  any 
anxiety  about  the  ball,  the  soldiers  might  have 
thought  to  look  for  her  money  in  the  cushion. 
At  last  they  gave  it  back  to  her,  much  soiled,  but 
holding  its  treasures  safe. 


A  SCHOOL  OF  LONG  AGO. 

A  HUNDRED  and  fifty  years  ago  there  was  a 
famous  teacher  among  the  German  settlers  in 
Pennsylvania  who  was  known  as  "  The  Good 
Schoolmaster."  His  name  was  Christopher  Dock. 
He  had  two  little  country  schools.  For  three  days 
he  would  teach  at  a  little  place  called  Skippack, 
and  then  for  the  next  three  days  he  would  teach 
at  Salford. 

People  said  that  the  good  schoolmaster  never 
lost  his  temper.  There  was  a  man  who  thought 
he  would  try  to  make  him  angry.  He  said  many 
narsh  and  abusive  words  to  the  teacher,  and  even 


6o 


cursed  him.     But  the  only  reply  the  teacher  made 
was,  "  Friend,  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  you." 

Other  schoolmasters  used  to  beat  their  scholars 
severely  with  whips  and  long  switches.  But 
Schoolmaster  Dock  had  found  out  a*  better  way. 

When  a  child  came  to  school  for  the  first  time, 
the  other  scholars  were  made  to  give  the  new 
scholar  a  welcome  by  shaking  hands  with  him,  one- 
after  another.  Then  the  new  boy  or  girl  ^as  told 
that  this  was  not  -a  harsh  school,  but  a  place  for 
those  who  would  behave.  And  if  a  scholar  were 
lazy,  disobedient,  or  stubborn,  the  master  would  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  school  pronounce  him 
not  fit  for  this  school,  but  only  for  a  school  where 

children  were 
flogged.  The 
new  scholar  was 
asked  to  prom 
ise  to  obey  and 
to  be  diligent. 
When  he  had 
made  this  prom 
ise,  he  was 
shown  to  a  seat. 
"  Now,"  the 

good  master  would  say,  when  this  was  done,  "  who 
will  take  this  new  scholar  and  help  him  to  learn?" 


6i 


When  the  new 
boy  or  girl  was 
clean  and  bright 
looking,  many  would 
be  willing  to  take 
_—  charge  of  him  or 
Wfl  3?ff^0  her.  But  there  were 
few  ready  to  teach  a 
dirty,  ragged  little 
child.  Sometimes  no 
one  would  wish  to  do  it. 
In  such  a  case  the  mas 
ter  would  offer  to  the  one 
who  would  take  such  a  child 
a  reward  of  one  of  the  beau 
tiful  texts  of  scripture  which 
the  schoolmasters  of  that  time  used  to  write  and 
decorate  for  the  children.  Or  he  would  give  him 
one  of  the  pictures  of  birds  which  he  was  accustomed 
to  paint  with  his  own  hands. 

The  old  Pennsylvania  teachers  were  fond  of 
making  these  tickets  with  pictures  and  writing  on 
them.  The  pictures  which  we  have  here  will  show 
you  what  they  looked  like.  The  writing  is  in 
German,  as  you  will  see. 

Whenever  one  of  the  younger  scholars  succeeded 
in  learning  his  A,  B,  C,  Christopher  Dock  would 


62 

e 

send  word  to  the  father  of  the  child  to  give  him  a 
penny,  and  he  would  ask  his  mother  to  cook  two 
eggs  for  him  as  a  treat.  These  were  fine  rewards 
for  poor  children  in  a  new  country. 

At  certain  stages  in  his  studies,  the  industrious 
child  in  one  of  Dock's  schools  would  receive  a 
penny  from  his  father,  and  eat  two  eggs  cooked 
by  his  mother.  But  all  this  time  he  was  not 
counted  a  member  of  the  school.  He  was  only 
on  trial.  The  day  on  which  a  boy  or  girl  began 
to  read  was  a  great  day.  If  the  pupil  had  been 
diligent  in  spelling,  the  morning  after  the  first 
reading  day,  the  master  would  give  him  a  ticket 
carefully  written  with  his  own  hand.  This  ticket 
read  "Industrious  —  One  Penny."  This  showed 
that  the  scholar  was  now  really  received  into  the 
school.  But  if  he  afterward  became  idle  or  disobedi 
ent,  Schoolmaster  Dock  would  take  away  hi«  token. 

There  were  no  clocks  or  watches  in  the  country. 
The  children  came  to  school,  one  after  another 
taking  their  places  near  the  master,  who  sat  writ 
ing.  They  spent  their  time  reading  until  all 
were  there.  But  every  one  who  succeeded  in 
reading  his  passage  without  mistake  stopped  read 
ing,  and  came  and  sat  at  the  writing  table  to 
write.  The  poor  fellow  who  remained  last  on  the 
bench  was  called  the  Lazy  Scholar. 


63 

Every  Lazy  Scholar  had  his  name  written  on 
the  blackboard.  If  a  child  at  any  time  failed  to 
read  correctly,  he  was  sent  back  to  study  his  pas 
sage,  and  called  again  after  a  while.  If  he  failed 
a  second  or  a  third  time,  all  the  scholars  cried 
out,  "  Lazy !  "  Then  his  name  was  written  on  the 
blackboard.  Then  all  the  poor  Lazy  Scholar's 
friends  went  to  work  to  teach  him  to  read  his 
lesson  correctly.  And  if  his  name  should  not  be 
rubbed  off  the  board  before  school  was  dismissed, 
all  the  scholars  might  write  it  down,  and  take  it 
home  with  them.  But  if  he  could  read  well  before 
school  was  out,  the  scholars,  at  the  bidding  of  the 
master,  called  out,"  Industrious!"  and  then  his  name 
was  rubbed  off  the  board. 

The  funniest  of  Dock's  rewards  was  that  which 
he  gave  to  those  who  made  no  mistake  in  their 
lessons.  He  marked  a  large  O  with  chalk  on 
the  hand  of  the  perfect  scholar.  Fancy  what  a 
time  the  boys  and  girls  must  have  had,  trying  to 
go  home  without  rubbing  out  this  O. 

If  you  had  gone  into  this  school  some  day,  you 
might  have  seen  a  boy  sitting  on  a  punishment 
bench  all  alone.  This  was  a  fellow  who  had  told 
a  lie  or  used  bad  language.  He  was  put  there 
as  not  fit  to  sit  near  anybody  else.  If  he  com 
mitted  the  offense  often,  a  yoke  would  be  put 


64 

round  his  neck,  as  if  he  were  a  brute.  Some 
times,  however,  the  teacher  would  give  the  scholars 
their  choice  of  a  blow  on  the  hand  or  a  seat  on 
the  punishment  bench.  They  usually  preferred 
the  blow. 

At  certain  times  the  scholars  were  permitted  to 
study  aloud,  but  at  other  times  they  were  obliged 
to  keep  still.  And  a  boy  or  girl  was  put  as  a 
watcher,  to  set  down  the  names  of  those  who  talked 
in  this  time  of  quiet. 

The  old  schoolmaster  in  Skippack  wrote  one 
hundred  rules  of  good  behavior  for  his  scholars. 
This  is  perhaps  the  first  book  on  good  manners 
written  in  America.  But  rules  of  behavior  for  peo 
ple  living  in  houses  of  one  or  two  rooms,  as  they 
did  in  that  day,  were  very  different  from  those 
needed  in  our  time.  Here  are  some  of  the  rules: 

"  When  you  comb  your  hair,  do  not  go  out  in 
the  middle  of  the  room,"  says  the  schoolmaster. 
This  was  because  families  were  accustomed  to 
eat  and  sleep  in  the  same  room. 

"  Do  not  eat  your  morning  bread  on  the  road  or 
in  school,"  he  tells  them,  "  but  ask  your  parents  to 
give  it  to  you  at  home."  From  this  we  see  that 
the  common  breakfast  was  bread  alone,  and  that  the 
children  often  ate  it  as  they  walked  to  school. 

The  table   manners  of  that  day  were  very  good 


65 

for  the  time,  but  they  seem  very  curious  to  us. 
He  says,  "  Do  not  wabble  with  your  stool,"  because 
rough  home-made  stools  were  the  common  chairs 
then,  and  the  floors,  made  of  boards  that  were  split 
and  not  sawed,  were  so  uneven  that  a  noisy  child 
could  easily  rock  his  stool  to  and  fro. 

"  Put  your  knife  upon  the  right  and  your  bread 
on  the  left  side,"  he  says.  Forks  were  little  used  in 
those  days,  and  the  people  in  the  country  did  not 
have  any.  He  also  tells  them  not  to  throw  bones 
under  the  table.  It  was  a  common  practice  among 
some  people  of  that  time  to  throw  bones  and 
scraps  under  the  table,  where  the  dogs  ate  them. 

The  child  is  not  told  to  wait  for  others  when  he 
has  finished  eating,  or  to  ask  to  be  excused.  "  Get 
up  quietly,"  says  the  schoolmaster,  "and  take  your 
stool  with  you.  Wish  a  pleasant  mealtime,  and 
go  to  one  side."  The  child  is  told  not  to  put  the 
remaining  bread  into  his  pocket. 

As  time  passed  on,  Christopher  Dock  had  many 
friends,  for  all  his  scholars  of  former  years  loved 
him  greatly.  He  lived  to  be  very  old,  and  taught 
his  schools  to  the  last.  One  evening  he  did  not 
come  home,  and  the  people  went  to  look  for  the 
beloved  old  man.  They  found  their  dear  old 
master  on  his  knees  in  the  schoolhouse.  He  had 
died  while  praying  alone. 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  5 


66 


STORIES   OF  WHALING. 

IN  the  old  days,  before  petroleum  or  kerosene 
had  been  found  in  this  country,  people  had  many 
ways  of  lighting  their  houses.  A  cheap  light  was 
made  by  putting  a  little  grease  or  oil  in  a  saucer 
in  which  was  a  little  wick  or  rag  lying  over  the 
edge  of  the  saucer  or  drawn  up  through  a  cork 
that  floated  on  the  grease.  When  this  wick  was 
burning,  it  gave  hardly  as  much  light  as  a  candle. 
This  is  one  of  the  oldest  ways  of  making  light. 
It  was  used  thousands  of  years  ago.  Many  peo 
ple  now  living  remember  little  lamps  made  in 
this  way. 

Poor  people  often  made  light  by  burning  pine 
knots,  or  bits  of  pitch  pine  chopped  out  of  old 
stumps.  These  gave  a  bright  light  for  a  time. 
Pitch  pine  in  New  England  was  called  candle  wood ; 
in  the  South  it  was  called  light  wood. 

The  commonest  light  in  old  times  was  the  tallow 
candle.  This  was  sometimes  made  by  dipping  a 
candle  wick  into  melted  tallow.  Then,  when  the 
tallow  had  cooled,  the  candle  was  dipped  again 
and  again.  A  little  tallow  remained  on  it  each 
time,  and  at  last  it  was  thick  enough  to  burn. 
Candles  made  in  this  way  were  called  "  dips." 


6; 

Better  candles  were  made  by  running  melted  tal 
low  into  molds. 

Before  the  Revolution  a  favorite  candle  for  burn 
ing  at  fine  houses  was  made  of  the  wax-myrtle  berry. 
This  berry  is  full  of  a  kind  of  green  wax  which 
came  out  when  it  was  boiled.  When  this  wax  rose 
to  the  top  of  the  pot,  it  was  skimmed  off  and  used 
for  making  wax  candles.  These  candles  had  a 
pretty  green  color,  and  gave  out  a  delicate  perfume 
when  they  were  burning.  More  expensive  candles 
were  made  of  beeswax. 

For  hundreds  of  years  whale  oil  was  burned  in 
large  lamps,  and  thousands  of  whales  were  killed 
in  order  to  get  the  oil.  Candles  were  also  made 
from  spermaceti,  which  is  a  substance  taken  from 
the  head  of  the  sperm  whale. 

When  the  people  first  settled  on  Long  Island, 
there  were  a  great  many  whales  in  the  sea.  Some 
times  these  whales  would  run  into  bays  and  other 
shallow  places.  When  the  tide  went  out,  the 
whale  would  be  left  without  water  enough  to  swim 
in.  Sometimes  he  found  himself  lying  on  the  dry 
ground.  Before  the  white  people  came,  the  Long 
Island  Indians  used  to  kill  whales  stranded  in  this 
way,  with  spears.  The  Indians  used  the  fat  of  the 
whale  for  food.  The  white  people  killed  them,  and 
got  the  oil  out  of  the  fat  by  boiling.  This  oil  they 
sold  for  lamp  oil. 


68 

Finding  that  much  money  could  be  made  by 
selling  whale  oil,  the  people  on  Long  Island  fitted 
up  boats,  which  they  kept  always  ready  along  the 
seashore.  Whenever  anybody  saw  a  whale,  the 
boatmen  ran  to  their  boats,  and  rowed  out  to  kill 
it.  They  did  not  yet  know  how  to  go  out  to  sea 
in  whaling  ships  as  some  people  in  Europe  did. 
After  a  while  the  Long  Island  people  learned  to 
take  their  small  boats  out  to  sea  for  miles  to  look 
for  whales.  This  way  of  killing  the  whales  spread 
from  Long  Island  to  Connecticut,  and  from  there 
to  Cape  Cod. 

The  people  on  the  island  of  Nantucket  had  also 
learned  to  kill  the  whales  that  came  into  shallow 
water.  They  got  a  man  to  come  out  from  Cape 
Cod  to  show  them  how  to  go  out  in  boats  and 
kill  whales  along  the  coast.  After  a  while  they 
built  small  ships  in  which  they  went  to  sea  to 
seek  for  whales,  but  they  brought  the  fat  on  shore 
in  order  to  get  the  oil  out  of  it. 

In  1718  the  people  on  this  island  began  to  build 
ships  with  great  kettles  in  them  for  rendering  the 
oil  on  board  the  ships.  The  brave  Nantucket  men, 
and  the  men  on  the  coast  near  by,  soon  began  to 
send  their  ships  into  very  distant  seas.  Some  of 
them  sailed  among  the  icebergs  in  the  Arctic 
regions ;  others  went  to  the  Southern  Ocean ; 


69 

and  some  of  the  Nantucket  and  Cape  Cod  ships 
went  round  Cape  Horn  into  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  hardy  whalemen  ran  great  risks  during  their 
long  voyages,  but,  if  they  were  fortunate  in  killing 
whales,  they  made  a  good  deal  of  money. 

There  are  still  whaling  vessels  in  our  times,  but 
not  so  many  as  there  used  to  be.  We  do  not  need 
whale  oil  so  much,  because  we  have  kerosene,  gas 
lights,  and  electric  lights.  There  are  not  so  many 
whales  to  be  found  as  there  used  to  be. 

When  the  men  on  a  whale  ship  in  the  old  times 
discovered  a  whale,  they  fitted  out  their  boats  and 
rowed  toward  it.  The  whale  would  go  down  out 
of  sight.  Each  officer  would  place  his  boat  where 
he  thought  the  whale  would  come  up.  When  the 
whale  came  up  to  get  breath,  the  men  in  the  nearest 
boat  would  row  toward  it.  The  officer  who  stood 
in  the  bow  of  the  boat  would  then  throw  a  harpoon, 
which  would  stick  fast  in  the  whale.  As  soon  as 
the  whale  was  struck  with  the  harpoon,  he  would 
go  down  into  the  water.  There  was  a  line  fast  to 
the  harpoon,  which  was  coiled  in  a  tub  standing  in 
the  whaleboat.  Sometimes  the  whale  would  run 
down  so  far,  that  it  would  take  more  line  than  the 
boat  carried,  to  keep  hold  of  him.  When  this  was 
likely  to  happen,  another  whaling  boat  would  come 
alongside,  and  tie  its  line  to  the  line  of  the  harpoon 


70 

that  was  fast  to  the  whale.  In  some  cases  nearly 
five  thousand  feet  of  line  were  drawn  out  of  the 
boats  before  the  whale  came  to  the  top  again. 
Whales  breathe  air  as  we  do,  so  the  whale  that 
had  been  harpooned  would  have  to  come  up 
again.  Then  the  whaling  boat  would  run  close 
to  him,  and  the  officer  would  try  to  kill  him  with 
a  sharp  lance.  When  a  whale  was  killed,  the  men 
drew  him  alongside  the  ship. 

A  whale's  body  is  covered  with  a  great  mass  of 
fat  called  blubber.  When  the  dead  whale  was 
lying  alongside  the  ship,  the  whalemen  would  fasten 
a  hook  in  the  blubber.  They  then  cut  the  blubber 
into  a  long  strip  running  round  the  whale.  As 
they  pulled  on  the  hook  with  ropes,  the  strip  of 
blubber  came  off  the  whale,  the  whale  rolling  over 
and  over.  The  men  unwound  the  blubber  from  his 
body  in  this  way,  pulling  it  up  on  board  the  ship, 
and  cutting  it  into  pieces. 

If  it  was  a  sperm  whale,  they  would  cut  a  hole 
in  his  head,  to  reach  a  place  where  there  was  a  great 
quantity  of  oil.  This  oil  they  dipped  out.  Some 
times  forty  barrels  of  oil  were  dipped  out  of  the 
head  of  a  whale.  From  the  fat  of  some  very  large 
whales  more  than  two  hundred  barrels  of  oil  could 
be  secured. 

The  men  on  the  whaling  ships  were  gone  from 


71 

home  for  years  at  a  time.  When  there  were  no 
whales  in  sight,  they  had  to  find  ways  of  amusing 
themselves.  Many  of  them  carried  sharp  pocket 
knives,  and  passed  their  time  in  whittling.  By  long 
practice  they  became  very  skillful  with  their  knives. 
Some  of  them  carved  pretty  figures  in  wood,  and 
made  pieces  of  furniture.  Others  carved  shells 
into  beautiful  shapes.  After  years  at  sea,  they 
would  bring  these  things  home  with  them,  to  give 
to  their  wives  or  sweethearts.  Such  work  done  on 
shipboard  is  called  scrimshaw  work. 

Some  of  the  whaleships  met  with  very  curious 
accidents.  In  1807  a  sn^P  named  "The  Union" 
was  sailing  along  very  quietly.  All  at  once  she 
struck  something  which  jarred  her  from  end  to  end. 
It  was  found  that  she  had  run  right  on  a  whale. 
Casks  of  water  were  thrown  out  of  the  ship  to 
make  her  lighter,  but  the  bottom  of  the  ship  was 
badly  injured.  The  men  on  board  had  to  get  out 
the  boats  at  once.  They  took  food  and  water  with 
them,  and  compasses  to  sail  by.  Soon  after  the 
boats  got  clear  of  the  ship,  she  filled  with  water, 
and  upset. 

The  men  now  found  themselves  in  open  boats 
in  the  ocean.  The  land  nearest  to  them  was  New 
foundland,  but,  as  the  wind  was  blowing  straight 
from  that  land  at  that  season  of  the  year,  they  knew 


72 

that  they  could  not  reach  it.  So  they  set  out  in 
the  direction  toward  which  the  wind  blew,  sailing 
for  the  islands  called  the  Azores.  These  were 
hundreds  of  miles  away.  They  made  a  sail  for 
each  boat. 

One  day  they  saw  a  schooner,  but  they  could  not 
make  the  schooner  see  them.  The  next  day  tjiey 
had  fine  sailing,  but  at  night  a  fearful  wind  arose. 
There  were  violent  squalls  and  bursts  of  thunder. 
The  boats  were  obliged  to  lie  still  with  their  bows 
to  the  wind.  At  last  the  waves  broke  into  the 
captain's  boat,  and  it  was  all  they  could  do  to  get 
the  water  out  again. 

They  now  had  to  throw  overboard  most  of  their 
fresh  water,  so  that  they  suffered  much  with  thirst 
from  this  time  on.  They  had  only  three  quarts  of 
water  a  day  to  be  divided  among  sixteen  men. 
That  is  about  a  small  teacupful  apiece.  After 
sailing  eight  days,  they  came  in  sight  of  the  beauti 
ful  islands  of  the  Azores.  Here  they  found  a  ship 
to  bring  them  back  to  their  own  country  again. 

A  still  stranger  accident  happened  to  the  ship 
"  Essex  "  in  1820.  She  was  far  away  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  Three  of  the  boats  of  the  ship  went  out 
after  a  whale.  The  mate's  boat,  having  been 
injured,  went  back  to  the  ship.  As  the  mate  stood 
on  the  ship,  he  saw  a  large  sperm  whale  rush  directly 


73 

at  the  vessel.  The  whale  seemed  to  think  the  ship 
some  great  animal,  and  that  it  would  be  fine  fun  to 
have  a  fight  with  it.  He  struck  the  ship  with  his 
great  square  head.  The  crash  was  fearful.  For  a 
moment  or  two  the  crew  were  so  astonished  that 
they  could  do  nothing.  Then  they  found  the  ship 


Attacked  by  a  Whale. 

sinking.     They  put  up  signals  for  the  other  boats 
to  come  back. 

But  the  whale  was  not  satisfied.  He  wanted  to 
fight  it  out  with  the  ship.  He  was  soon  seen  com 
ing  toward  the  vessel  again.  He  came  on  so  fast 
that  the  water  foamed  round  him.  He  struck  the 
ship  a  second  blow,  which  almost  crushed  it.  The 


74 

mate  now  quickly  put  what  provisions  he  could 
into  a  boat,  and  got  ready  to  leave  the  ship. 

The  other  boats  returned.  The  men  were  so 
horrified  that  for  some  time  they  could  not  speak  to 
one  another.  The  ship  fell  over  on  her  side.  The 
men  cut  away  her  masts.  Then  they  cut  holes 
into  the  ship's  side,  and  got  out  what  bread  and 
water  they  could  carry.  They  were  a  thousand 
miles  from  land,  in  the  direction  that  the  winds 
blew. 

After  twenty-eight  days  of  sailing  in  these  open 
boats,  the  men  got  to  Ducie's  Island.  Here  they 
could  not  find  food  enough  for  so  large  a  party,  so 
the  boats  put  off  to  sea  again.  Three  men  re 
mained  behind  on  the  island.  These  were  after 
ward  found  by  a  passing  ship,  which  took  them 
home.  Some  of  the  men  in  the  boats  perished,  but 
the  rest  of  them  were  picked  up  by  a  ship  and  taken 
home. 

A  WHALING   SONG. 

PART    OF    A   FAVORITE    SONG    SUNG    BY    WHALEMEN 
IN     OLD    TIMES. 

When  spring  returns  with  western  gales, 

And  gentle  breezes  sweep 
The  ruffling  seas,  we  spread  our  sails 

To  plow  the  watery  deep. 


Cape  Cod,  our  dearest  native  land, 

We  leave  astern,  and  lose 
Its  sinking  cliffs  and  less'ning  sands, 

While  Zephyr  gently  blows. 

Now  toward  the  early  dawning  east 

We  speed  our  course  away, 
With  eager  minds  and  joyful  hearts. 

To  meet  the  rising  day. 

Then,  as  we  turn  our  wondering  eyes, 
We  view  one  constant  show,  — 

Above,  around,  the  circling  skies, 
The  rolling  seas  below. 

When  eastward,  clear  of  Newfoundlands 

We  stem  the  frozen  pole, 
We  see  the  icy  islands  stand, 

The  northern  billows  roll. 

Now  see  the  northern  regions  where 

Eternal  winter  reigns ; 
One  day  and  night  fills  up  the  year, 

And  endless  cold  maintains. 

We  view  the  monsters  of  the  deep, 
Great  whales  in  numerous  swarms, 

And  creatures  there,  that  play  and  leap, 
Of  strange,  unusual  forms. 


76 

When  in  our  station  we  are  placed, 
And  whales  around  us  play, 

We  launch  our  boats  into  the  main, 
And  swiftly  chase  our  prey. 


IN  1658  there  was  a 
little  French  colony  at 
Onondaga  in  New  York. 
Some  of  the  men  in  this 
colony  were  traders,  and 
some  were  missionaries. 
They  were  living  among 
the  Onondaga  Indians. 

The  Indians  had  been 
very  friendly,  but  the 
French  found  out  that  a 
plot  had  been  formed,  to 
put  them  all  to  death. 
Stakes  had  even  been  set 
up  in  order  to  burn  some 
of  them  alive.  There 
seemed  no  hope  for  the 
Frenchmen  to  escape.  They  knew,  that,  if  they 
tried  to  get  away  by  land,  they  should  all  be  killed. 


A  French  Missionary. 


77 

If  they  shut  themselves  up  in  their  fort,  the  Indi 
ans  would  besiege  them,  and  they  would  starve 
to  death.  They  had  no  boats  by  which  to  get 
away  by  sailing  through  the  lakes  and  down  the 
St.  Lawrence  River. 

The  Frenchmen  went  to  work  and  built  boats 
secretly  in  the  attic  of  their  fort  or  trading  house. 
They  built  them  strong  enough  to  bear  the  float 
ing  ice.  They  had  also  some  light  canoes  made  of 
bark,  which  they  hid  in  the  upper  part  of  their  house. 
The  question  now  was  how  to  get  away  without 
the  Indians  finding  it  out  and  pursuing  them. 

One  of  the  young  Frenchmen  had  been  adopted 
into  the  tribe  of  these  Indians.  He  invited  the  Indi 
ans  to  a  feast.  It  was  a  feast,  of  a  kind  the  Indians 
give,  in  which  every  guest  is  obliged  to  eat  every 
thing  that  is  set  before  him,  leaving  nothing.  The 
Indians  kept  on  eating,  while  the  French  amused 
them  with  dancing  and  games.  The  young 
Frenchman  played  on  his  guitar,  while  the  guests 
ate.  The  Indians  having  eaten  too  much,  at  length 
began  to  fall  asleep  one  by  one.  The  feast  was 
not  over  until  late  at  night,  nor  until  every  Indian 
had  eaten  till  he  begged  not  to  be  given  any  more. 
Some  of  the  Indians  fell  asleep  while  they  were  eat 
ing.  The  rest  of  them  were  soon  sleeping  soundly 
in  their  wigwams. 


78 

The  Frenchmen  now  quickly  brought  their  boats 
down  stairs  and  put  them  into  the  water.  They 
loaded  them  with  food  and  other  things  needed 
for  their  journey.  Then  they  pushed  off  without 
making  any  noise  or  speaking  above  a  whisper. 
The  water  froze  about  their  boats  as  they  rowed, 
and  every  moment  they  feared  an  attack  from  the 
Indians.  They  rowed  all  night  long,  and  then 
they  rowed  and  paddled  all  the  next  day  without 
taking  any  rest.  It  was  not  until  the  evening  of 
the  second  day  that  they  felt  they  had  passed  out 
of  the  greatest  danger. 

The  Indians  slept  late  the  morning  after  the 
feast.  When  they  waked  at  last,  they  came  out 
of  their  huts  one  by  one,  and  went  toward  the 
French  house.  They  were  surprised  to  see  it  shut 
up,  and  everything  silent  about  it.  They  supposed 
that  the  French  were  at  prayer,  so  they  waited 
quietly  outside.  They  could  hear  the  fowls  crow 
ing  in  the  yard,  and  when  they  knocked  at  the 
door  of  the  house,  the  dog  barked.  Noon  came, 
and  yet  no  Frenchmen  appeared. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  the  Indians  climbed  up  the 
side  of  the  house  and  got  in  by  a  window.  They 
could  hear  no  sound  but  their  own  steps.  They 
were  much  frightened  as  they  stole  through  the 
house  and  opened  the  main  door.  They  searched 


79 

the  building  from  top  to  bottom,  but  not  a  French 
man  was  to  be  found. 

As  they  were  sure  that  the  French  had  no  boats, 
they  were  struck  with  fear.  They  gazed  a  moment 
at  each  other  in  silence.  Then  they  fled  from  the 
house.  They  believed  that  the  Frenchmen  had, 
by  some  magic,  made  themselves  invisible ;  that 
is,  so  that  they  could  not  be  seen.  They  believed 
that  the  French  had  flown  away  through  the  air, 
or  walked  off  on  the  water. 

Meanwhile  the  French  passed  down  Lake  Ontario 
through  many  dangers.  They  went  down  the  River 
St.  Lawrence,  working  their  way  over  rapids  and 
waterfalls.  At  last  they  reached  Montreal,  where 
the  people  looked  on  them  as  men  that  had  come 
up  from  the  grave. 


GRANDMOTHER   BEAR. 

MR.  ALEXANDER  HENRY  was  made  prisoner  by 
the  Indians  on  Lake  Superior  when  Fort  Mack 
inaw  was  taken  by  Indians.  This  was  in  the 
time  of  the  Indian  war  which  is  called  Pontiac's 
War,  because  the  great  chief  Pontiac  started  it. 

Nearly  all  the  white  men  in  Fort  Mackinaw 
were  killed,  but  Mr.  Henry  was  saved.  He  had 


8o 

an  Indian  friend  named  Wawatam,  who  paid  for 
his  life.  He  went  to  live  with  Wawatam.  He 
had  his  head  shaved,  and  put  on  the  dress  of 
an  Indian.  He  lived  and  hunted  as  the  Indians 
did. 

One  day  Mr.  Henry  saw  a  very  large  pine  tree. 
Its  trunk  was  six  feet  in  diameter.  The  bark  had 
been  scratched  by  a  bear's  claws.  Far  up  on  the 
tree  there  was  a  large  hole.  All  about  this  hole 
the  small  branches  were  broken. 

Mr.  Henry  looked  at  the  snow.  There  were  no 
bear  tracks  in  it.  So  he  thought  that  an  old 
bear  had  climbed  up  into  the  tree  before  the 
snow  fell.  Bears  sleep  nearly  all  winter.  They 
do  not  even  come  out  to  get  anything  to  eat. 

Mr.  Henry  told  the  Indians  about  the  tree. 
There  was  no  way  of  getting  up  to  the  bear's 
hole.  They  could  not  get  the  bear  out  except 
by  cutting  down  the  tree.  But  the  Indian  women 
did  not  believe  that  the  Indians  could  do  it.  Their 
axes  were  too  small  to  chop  down  so  big  a  tree. 

However,  the  Indians  wanted  the  bear's  oil,  which 
is  of  great  use  to  them.  It  serves  them  for  lard, 
and  butter,  and  many  other  things.  So  at  the 
tree  they  went  with  their  little  axes.  As  many 
as  could  stand  about  the  tree  worked  at  a  time, 
and  when  one  rested,  another  chopper  took  his 


8i 


place.  They  all  worked,  men  and  women,  and 
they  chopped  all  day.  When  the  sun  went  down, 
they  had  chopped  about  halfway  through  the  tree. 

The  next  morning  they  began  again.  They 
chopped  away  until  about  two  o'clock.  Then 
the  top  of  the  great  pine  tree  began  to  tremble. 
Slowly  it  leaned  a  little.  Then  the  tree  began 
to  fall.  Everybody 
got  far  out  of  the 
way.  It  fell  down 
among  the  other  trees 
with  a  crash  that  made 
the  woods  roar,  and 
lay  at  last  upon  the 
ground. 

But  no  bear  came 
out  of  the  big  tree. 
Mr.  Henry  began  to  be  afraid  that  there  was  no 
bear  there.  He  thought  such  a  crash  was  enough 
to  wake  up  the  sleepiest  bear  in  the  world.  At 
last  the  nose  of  a  bear  was  poked  out  of  the  hole. 
Then  came  the  head.  Then  came  out  the  great 
brown  body  of  one  of  the  largest  bears  in  the 
woods.  Mr.  Henry  shot  the  bear  dead. 

Though  the  Indians  kill  and  eat  bears,  they  are 
very  much  afraid  of  the  ghosts  of  the  bears  after 
they  are  dead.  They  are  more  afraid  of  a  bear 

EGGL.  AMER.   LIFE  —  6 


82 

after  it  is  dead  than  when  it  is  alive.  So,  whenever 
an  Indian  has  killed  a  bear,  he  always  begs  the 
dead  bear's  pardon.  Each  of  these  Indians  now 
politely  begged  pardon  of  the  bear.  The  old 
woman  who  had  adopted  Mr.  Henry  for  her  son 
took  the  bear's  head  in  her  hands  and  kissed  it 
She  called  it  her  grandmother,  and  asked  it  not 
to  do  them  any  harm.  The  Indians  told  the 
dead  bear  that  a  white  man  had  killed  it.  Of 
course,  the  dead  bear  did  not  say  anything. 

Though  they  called  the  bear  their  grandmother, 
they  made  haste  to  take  off  its  skin.  They  were 
glad  to  find  that  Grandma  Bear  was  very  fat.  It 
took  two  persons  to  carry  home  the  fat.  Four 
more  were  loaded  with  the  meat  of  this  nice  old 
relative  of  theirs. 

But  still  wishing  to  fool  the  bear's  ghost,  they 
carried  the  head  also  to  their  tent.  They  put  all 
kinds  of  silver  trinkets  on  the  head,  and  many 
belts  of  wampum  or  shell  beads  on  it.  In  order 
to  please  the  ghost  of  Grandmother  Bear  still 
more,  they  laid  the  head  on  a  kind  of  table  that 
they  made  for  it,  and  placed  a  large  quantity  of 
tobacco  near  its  nose. 

The  next  morning  a  feast  was  made  to  please 
the  bear's  ghost.  The  head  of  the  bear  was  lifted, 
and  a  new  blanket  was  spread  under  it.  All  the 


83 

Indians  lighted  their  pipes,  and  blew  tobacco  smoke 
into  the  bear's  nose.  Wawatam  made  a  speech 
to  the  bear's  spirit.  He  told  it  they  were  very 
sorry  to  have  to  kill  their  friends.  But  he  said 
it  could  not  be  helped,  for,  if  they  did  not  do  this, 
they  should  starve  to  death. 

The  speech  being  over,  the  whole  party  ate 
heartily  of  the  bear's  flesh.  After  three  days 
they  even  took  down  the  head  itself,  and  put  it 
into  the  kettle.  Thus  they  ate  their  grandmother 
up,  but  they  did  it  very  politely. 


THE   GREAT   TURTLE. 


4 


AMONG  the  Indians  there  are  priests  or  medicine 
men  who  pretend  to  cure  diseases.  They  also  pre 
tend  to  talk  to  their  gods  and  other  spirits.  They 
have  many  ways  of  deceiving  the  Indians. 

Mr.  Alexander  Henry,  while  a  prisoner  among 
the  Indians,  was  present  when  the  tribe  he  was 
with  asked  advice  of  the  Great  Turtle,  which  is 
one  of  the  gods  they  believe  in. 

The  Indians  had  heard  that  there  was  an 
English  army  coming  against  them.  They  were 
very  much  afraid,  because  they  had  killed  or 
taken  prisoner  all  the  English  in  Fort  Mackinaw. 


84 

They  wished  to  send  messengers  to  make  peace 
with  the  white  men,  but  they  were  afraid  the  white 
men  would  kill  their  messengers.  In  this  state 
of  mind,  they  asked  the  Great  Turtle  what  they 
would  better  do. 

They  first  built  a  large  house  or  wigwam.  In 
the  middle  of  this  they  set  up  five  posts,  and 
covered  these  posts  with  moose  skins.  This  made 
a  little  tent  in  the  middle  of  the  large  wigwam. 

When  night  came  on,  they  built  fires  in  the 
wigwam  outside  of  the  little  tent.  This  lighted 
up  the  house  where  the  Indians  were  seated. 
Soon  the  priest  came  in.  Some  of  the  Indians 
lifted  the  moose  skins  on  one  side  of  their  little 
tent.  The  priest  crepj  in  on  his  hands  and  knees. 
The  little  tent  began  to  shake,  and  from  the  inside 
there  came  sounds  like  the  barking  of  dogs  and 
the  howling  of  wolves,  with  screams  and  sobs,  and 
cries  of  pain  and  sorrow.  Words  were  spoken 
in  strange  voices,  and  in  a  language  which  nobody 
could  understand.  These  voices  the  Indians  had 
heard  before,  and  they  thought  that  they  belonged 
to  evil  spirits  who  would  tell  them  lies.  When 
they  heard  these  voices,  the  Indians  hissed.  They 
did  not  want  to  hear  any  spirit  but  that  of  the 
Great  Turtle.  After  a  while  these  frightful  noises 
ceased.  There  was  silence  for  a  time.  Then  the 


35 

Indians  heard  a  new  voice.  It  was  low  and  feeble, 
like  the  cry  of  a  very  young  puppy.  All  the 
Indians  now  clapped  their  hands  for  joy.  They 
cried  out  that  this  was  the  voice  of  the  Great 
Turtle,  the  spirit  that  never  lied. 

But  now  new  voices  came  from  the  tent.  For 
half  an  hour  there  were  sounds  in  many  different 
voices,  but  none  of  them  were  like  the  priest's  own 
voice.  When  these  sounds  were  no  longer  heard, 
the  medicine  man  spoke  in  his  own  voice,  and 
declared  that  the  Great  Turtle  was  present,  and 
would  answer  any  question  that  might  be  asked. 

The  chief  of  the  village  now  put  a  large  quantity 
of  tobacco  into  the  little  tent.  This  was  a  sacrifice 
to  the  Great  Turtle.  Then  he  told  the  priest  to  ask 
the  Great  Turtle  whether  the  white  men  were  com 
ing  to  make  war  on  them,  and  whether  there  were 
many  soldiers  at  Fort  Niagara. 

The  medicine  man  put  this  question  to  the  Great 
Turtle.  The  tent  began  to  shake  so  violently  that 
it  seemed  about  to  fall  over.  Then  a  loud  cry 
came  from  the  tent.  This  was  to  show  that  the 
Great  Turtle  was  leaving. 

For  a  quarter  of  an  hour  no  sound  was  heard. 
Then  the  Great  Turtle  returned.  He  now  made 
a  long  speech  to  the  priest  in  his  little  squeaky, 
puppy  voice,  but  it  was  spoken  in  a  language  which 


86 

nobody  could  understand.  After  the  spirit's  speech 
was  finished,  the  medicine  man  spoke  in  his  own 
voice,  and  explained  to  the  people  that  in  the  last 
fifteen  minutes  the  Great  Turtle  had  crossed 
Lake  Huron,  and  gone  to  Fort  Niagara,  hundreds 
of  miles  away.  Then  he  had  gone  on  down  to 
Montreal.  He  said  there  were  not  many  soldiers 
at  Fort  Niagara,  but  at  Montreal  the  river  was 
covered  with  boats  filled  with  soldiers.  He  said 
the  soldiers  coming  to  make  war  on  the  Indians 
were  as  many  as  the  leaves  on  the  trees.  He  told 
the  Indians,  that,  if  they  would  send  men  to  the 
general  of  this  army,  he  would  make  peace  with 
them,  and  fill  their  canoes  with  presents  of  blankets, 
kettles,  guns,  powder,  and  shot.  And  he  said,  what 
pleased  them  still  more,  that  the  general  would 
give  them  great  barrels  of  rum. 

The  Indians  were  so  much  delighted  with  this 
message,  that  many  of  them  set  out,  soon  after,  to 
go  in  boats  to  make  peace  with  the  white  men.  No 
doubt  this  humbug  of  the  medicine  man  was  a  plan 
to  persuade  them  to  go.  Mr.  Henry  was  taken 
along  to  act  as  their  friend. 


THE   RATTLESNAKE   GOD. 

MR.  HENRY  had  traveled  several  days  with  the 
Indians  going  to  Fort  Niagara  to  rtiake  peace. 
One  day  the  wind  was  blowing  so  hard  that  they 
could  not  go  on.  So  they  camped  on  a  point 
in  Lake  Huron. 

While  the  Indians  were  building  a  hut,  Mr. 
Henry  was  lighting  a  fire.  He  went  off  a  little 
way  to  get  dry  wood,  and  while  he  was  picking 
up  sticks  he  heard  a  strange  sound.  It  lasted 
only  a  little  while ;  but,  when  Mr.  Henry  went  a 
little  farther,  it  began  again.  He  looked  up  into 
the  air  to  see  where  it  came  from.  Then  he 
looked  down  on  the  ground,  and  saw  a  large 
rattlesnake  coiled  close  to  his  naked  leg.  If  he 
had  taken  one  step  more,  he  would  have  stepped 
on  it,  and  it  would  have  bitten  him. 

He  now  ran  back  to  the  canoe  to  get  his  gun 
to  kill  the  snake. 

"  What  are  you  doing  ? "  asked  the  Indians. 

"  I  am  going  to  kill  a  rattlesnake,"  he  said. 

"Oh,  no!   don't  do  that,"  they  said. 

The  Indians  all  got  their  tobacco  bags  and 
pipes,  and  went  to  the  place  where  the  snake 
had  been  seen.  It  was  still  lying  in  a  coil. 


88 


— -— — 


Grandfather  Rattlesnake. 

The  Indians  now  stood  round  the  snake,  and 
one  after  another  spoke  to  it.  They  called  it 
their  grandfather.  But  they  took  care  not  to  go 
too  close  to  their  grandfather.  They  stood  off 
and  filled  their  pipes  with  tobacco.  Each  one 
in  turn  blew  tobacco  smoke  at  the  snake.  The 
snake  seemed  to  like  it.  For  half  an  hour  it  lay 
there  in  a  coil,  and  breathed  the  smoke.  Then 
it  slowly  stretched  itself  out  at  full  length,  and 
seemed  in  a  very  good  humor.  It  was  more 
than  four  feet  Ipng. 

After  having  more  smoke  blown  at  it,  it  slowly 
crept  away.  The  Indians  followed,  begging  their 


89 

grandfather,  as  they  called  it,  to  take  care  of 
their  families  while  they  were  gone.  They  also 
asked  that  the  snake  would  open  the  heart  of  the 
English  general  so  that  he  would  give  them  a 
great  deal  of  rum.  One  of  the  chiefs  begged  the 
snake  to  take  no  notice  of  the  insult  offered  to 
him  by  the  white  man,  who  would  have  killed  it 
if  the  Indians  had  not  stopped  him.  They  also 
begged  that  it  would  remain  and  live  in  their 
country. 

The  Indians  thought  that  the  snake  was  a 
spirit  or  god  in  this  form.  They  thought  that 
it  had  been  sent  to  stop  them  on  their  v;ay. 
They  were  almost  ready  to  turn  back,  but  Mr. 
Henry  persuaded  them  to  go  on. 

The  next  morning  was  calm.  The  Indians 
took  a  short  course  by  sailing  straight  to  an 
island  out  in  the  lake.  But  after  they  had  got 
far  out,  the  wind  began  to  blow  very  hard.  They 
expected  every  moment  that  their  canoe  would 
be  swallowed  up  by  the  waves.  They  began  to 
pray  to  the  rattlesnake  to  help  them.  One  of 
the  chiefs  resolved  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  the 
snake.  He  took  a  dog,  and  tied  its  legs  together, 
and  threw  it  into  the  water.  He  asked  the  snake 
spirit  to  be  satisfied  with  this.  But  the  wind 
continued  to  grow  higher,  and  so  another  dog 


90 

was  thrown  into  the  water,  and  some  tobacco  was 
thrown  with  it.  The  chief  told  Grandfather  Snake 
that  the  man  who  wanted  to  kill  him  was  really 
a  white  man,  and  no  kin  to  the  snake  or  to  the 
Indians. 

Some  of  the  Indians  began  to  think  of  throwing 
Mr.  Henry  in  after  the  dog  and  the  tobacco  to 
satisfy  the  snake  spirit ;  but  the  wind  went  down, 
and  they  soon  got  to  the  island.  Some  days  after 
ward  the  party  came  to  the  fort.  The  English 
general  was  very  glad  to  see  Mr.  Henry,  and  his 
long  captivity  was  over,  in  spite  of  the  anger  of 
the  rattlesnake  god  of  the  Indians. 


WITCHCRAFT    IN   LOUISIANA. 

THE  Indian  medicine  men  or  priests  have  many 
ways  of  deceiving  their  people.  A  French  officer 
found  that  the  people  of  a*  certain  tribe  believed 
very  much  in  an  idol  which  a  medicine  man  had  set 
up.  This  idol  was  called  by  a  long  name,  Vistee- 
poolee-keek-apook.  The  Indians,  when  they  stood 
near,  would  sometimes  hear  it  speak,  and  this 
seemed  to  them  a  very  wonderful  thing. 

A  French  officer  named  Bossu  tried  to  find  out 
what  made  the  idol  talk.  He  found  a  long  reed, 


such  as  we  call  a  cane  pole,  running  from  the  back 
of  the  idol's  head  to  a  cave  or  hollow  in  the  rocks 
behind  the  idol.  This  reed  had  been  made  into  a 
hollow  tube.  In  the  cave  there  was  a  medicine 
man  who  talked  into  the  tube.  The  words  com 
ing  out  of  the  other  end  in  the  idol's  head  were 
heard  from  the  mouth  of  the  idol,  as  if  the  idol 
were  speaking.  Bossu  showed  the  Indians  the 
trick,  and  then  got  one  of  his  soldiers  to  destroy 
the  idol. 

The  soldier  that  destroyed  the  idol  was  so  brave, 
that  the  Frenchmen  had  given  him  a  nickname 
which  means  "fearless."  The  medicine  man  de 
clared  that  some  dreadful  thing  would  fall  on 
Fearless  because  he  had  destroyed  the  idol.  In 
order  to  make  his  people  believe  in  the  power  of 
this  god  that  had  been  thrown  down,  he  told  them 
that  there  was  a  witch  or  evil  spirit  which  came  to 
the  village  in  the  shape  of  a  little  black  panther. 
He  said,  that,  whenever  he  pronounced  the  name  of 
his  god,  this  little  black  panther  would  instantly 
disappear. 

You  see,  the  cunning  old  medicine  man  had 
somehow  got  hold  of  a  large  black  cat  with  yellow 
eyes.  Cats  were  not  common  among  the  Indians, 
these  animals  having  been  brought  by  the  white 
people.  Such  a  cat  as  this,  the  Indians  had  never 


92 

seen.  The  medicine  man  kept  the  cat  in  his 
cabin,  and  trained  it.  He  would  strike  it  with  a 
whip,  crying  out  every  time  he  struck  it,  "  Vistee- 
poolee-keek-apook !  " 

The  poor  cat  became  afraid  of  the  long  ugly 
name  of  the  Indian  god,  because  the  whip  and  the 
name  always  came  together.  One  day  the  black 
cat  crept  into  the  cabin  of  an  Indian  woman  to 
get  something  to  eat.  The  medicine  man  who 
was  near  by  saw  it.  He  said  the  name  of  his  god 
in  his  common  voice.  The  cat,  which  the  Indians 
believed  to  be  a  witch,  jumped  like  lightning 
through  the  hole  in  the  cabin  that  was  used  for  a 
window.  The  Indians  really  believed  that  they 
had  seen  an  evil  spirit  in  the  shape  of  a  little  black 
panther,  and  that  it  disappeared  when  the  medicine 
man  spoke  the  name  of  his  god. 

After  that,  every  time  an  Indian  saw  this  black 
cat,  or  little  black  panther,  as  it  was  called,  he  spoke 
the  name  of  this  terrible  god.  Of  course,  the  black 
cat  with  yellow  eyes  ran  away.  Tired  out  at  last 
with  being  driven  off  in  this  fashion,  the  cat  disap 
peared  entirely,  and  took  up  its  home  with  the  wild 
animals  in  the  woods,  where  it  could  not  hear  the 
terrible  name  of  the  idol  any  more. 

Bossu  afterward  made  use  of  the  Indians'  belie! 
in  spirits  for  his  own  purpose.  One  of  his  soldiers 


93 

had  been  killed  by  one  of  the  Indians.  Bossu 
could  not  find  out  who  killed  the  soldier,  or  even  to 
what  tribe  the  Indian  that  killed  him  belonged.  He 
wanted  to  punish  or  frighten  the  murderer  in  order 
to  save  the  lives  of  the  rest  of  the  French  soldiers. 

He  called  the  chief  of  the  Indians,  and  told  him 
that  one  of  his  men  was  missing.  He  said  he  was 
sure  the  man  had  not  run  away.  He  therefore 
asked  that  the  Indians  should  find  the  man,  and 
said,  that,  if  he  were  not  found,  he  should  have  to 
think  that  some  of  the  Indians  had  killed  him. 

The  chief  answered  that  the  white  soldier  had 
probably  gone  hunting  in  the  woods,  and  killed 
himself  accidentally  with  his  gun,  or  else  he  had 
been  killed  by  a  panther.  To  this  Bossu  replied 
that  the  animal  would  not  have  eaten  the  gun  or 
the  clothes  of  the  soldier.  He  said  that  if  the 
Indians  would  find  the  Frenchman's  gun,  or  bits 
of  his  clothes,  they  could  easily  show  that  he  had 
been  killed  by  a  wild  animal. 

Bossu  had  a  friend  among  the  Indians  who  was 
very  much  attached  to  him.  He  persuaded  this 
young  Indian  to  tell  him  to  what  tribe  the  mur 
derer  of  the  Frenchman  belonged,  but  he  sol 
emnly  promised  that  the  other  Indians  should 
never  know  who  had  told  him.  He  paid  the  young 
Indian  for  telling  him. 


94 

The  Frenchman  who  was  called  Fearless  now 
undertook  to  have  the  man  who  had  killed  the 
other  soldier  punished,  for  the  dead  soldier  had 
been  his  friend.  But  it  was  necessary  that  he 
should  not  let  the  Indians  know  who  had  told 
about  it.  Fearless  stripped  off  a  great  quantity  of 
bark  of  the  pawpaw  tree.  He  thought  he  would 
play  a  trick  like  that  of  the  medicine  man,  and 
make  the  Indians  believe  that  a  spirit  was  talking 
to  them.  He  did  everything  very  secretly.  By 
fastening  pieces  of  the  pawpaw  bark  together  with 
pitch,  he  managed  to  make  a  very  large  speaking 
trumpet,  which  would  carry  the  voice  a  long 
distance. 

When  he  had  finished  this  trumpet,  he  left  the 
camp  one  very  dark  night.  He  carried  with  him 
his  gun,  some  food,  and  a  gourd  full  of  water.  He 
had  also  a  bearskin  of  which  to  make  a  bed,  and 
a  buffalo  robe  to  cover  himself  with.  With  these 
things  he  hid  himself  on  a  hill.  This  hill  was 
near  the  Indian  camp.  From  the  top  of  it  Fear 
less  could  make  his  voice  heard  for  three  miles 
round  by  the  aid  of  his  great  pawpaw  trumpet. 

He  shouted  through  this  great  bark  trumpet 
what  seemed  to  be  words  in  an  unknown  language, 
such  as  the  Indian  medicine  man  used.  The 
frightful  noise  sounded  through  the  woods.  It 


95 

did  not  seem  to  come  from  anywhere.  The  Indi 
ans  thought  that  these  cries  came  down  from  the 
sky.  The  Indian  women  were  thrown  into  a  great 
fright,  and  even  the  warriors  and  chiefs  were 
alarmed.  They  said  that  the  Master  of  Life  was 


:  • 

angry   with    their    tribe, 
and    that    this    horrible  voice  showed 
that  something  bad  was  going  to  happen  to  them. 
The  day  after  the  voice  was  heard,  the  old  men 
of   the    tribe   came    to    consult    Bossu    about    this 
strange    noise.     Bossu    told    them   that    the    white 
soldier  who  had   been   killed  could    not   rest.     He 
said  that  every  night  his  voice  was  heard,  though 
nothing  could  be   seen.     He   said    that   the  voice 
cried  out  in  a    melancholy  tone,  "  I   am  the  white 


96 

soldier  that  went  with  the  French  captain.  I  was 
killed  by  a  man  of  the  tribe  of  the  Kanoatinos. 
Frenchmen,  revenge  my  death." 

The  Indians  now  saw  that  it  was  of  no  use  for 
them  to  tell  any  more  lies  about  the  death  of  the 
white  man.  They  believed  that  the  soldier's 
ghost  had  told  the  Frenchmen  all  about  it. 
They  confessed  the  murder,  but  they  explained 
that  the  white  soldier  had  provoked  it  when  he 
was  drunk,  by  bad  treatment  of  the  Indian  who 
killed  him. 

Captain  Bossu  was  not  willing  to  take  their 
excuses.  He  told  them,  that,  if  the  soldier  had  done 
wrong,  he  ought  to  have  been  brought  to  his  own 
captain  to  be  punished.  He  said,  "  If  one  of  my 
soldiers  should  kill  one  of  your  Indians,  I  would 
put  him  to  death.  You  must  do  the  same  with 
the  Indian  who  killed  my  soldier." 

The  oldest  of  the  chiefs  now  commanded  one 
of  his  men  to  go  and  seize  the  guilty  man,  bind 
him,  and  bring  him  in  to  be  put  to  death,  in  order 
that  the  ghost  of  the  French  soldier  might  no 
longer  trouble  them. 

Captain  Bossu  did  not  wish  to  put  the  Indian 
to  death.  He  knew  that  the  French  soldier  had 
very  greatly  wronged  and  provoked  the  Indian. 
He  got  his  young  Indian  friend  to  go  to  the  wife 


97 

of  the  chief  of  the  Kanoatinos,  and  say  to  her  that 
she  might  beg  the  life  of  the  guilty  man.  The 
young  Indian  told  the  chiefs  wife  that  Captain 
Bossu  would  not  refuse  her  anything.  The  woman 
went,  and  begged  that  the  Indian  might  be  spared. 
Bossu  consented  that  the  Indian  should  live,  but 
said  that  he  did  it  as  a  favor  to  the  chief's  wife. 

The  chief  then  turned  to  the  condemned  Indian, 
and  said  to  him,  "  You  were  dead,  but  the  captain 
of  the  white  warriors  has  brought  you  to  life  at  the 
request  of  the  chief's  wife."  The  white  people  and 
Indians  then  smoked  the  pipe  of  peace  together. 


A  STORY   OF   NIAGARA. 

MANY  years  ago,  the  falls  of  Niagara,  then  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  wilderness,  and  a  long  way 
from  the  homes  of  the  white  people,  seemed  even 
more  wonderful  than  they  do  now.  In  those 
days,  travelers  from  other  countries  made  long 
journeys  through  the  woods  to  see  this  wonderful 
waterfall.  Indians  lived  about  it,  and  there  was  a 
fort  near  by,  belonging  to  the  French. 

Wild  swans,  geese,  and  ducks  used  to  swim  in 
the  Niagara  River.  Sometimes  great  flocks  of 
them  lost  their  lives  by  going  over  the  falls.  Water 


EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE 


98 

fowl  are  fond  of  floating  on  smooth,  moving 
water.  The  wild  geese  and  ducks  would  take 
great  delight  in  finding  themselves  shooting  down 
toward  the  falls.  Sometimes  they  would  try  to  rise 
and  fly  when  it  was  too  late. 


Niagara  Falls. 

In  the  autumn  the  soldiers  of  the  fort  used  to  get 
their  meat  by  taking  from  the  water  below  the  falls 
the  ducks  and  geese  that  had  been  killed  in  this 
way.  Sometimes  they  would  find  a  deer  or  a  bear 
that  had  been  carried  over  in-  trying  to  swim 
across  the  river  above  the  falls. 


99 

In  the  midst  of  the  falls  is  an  island.  Many 
years  ago  two  Indians  were  hunting  far  above  the 
falls.  They  had  with  them  a  little  brandy,  which 
they  drank.  This  made  them  sleepy,  and  they  lay 
down  and  went  to  sleep  in  their  canoe,  which  was 
tied  to  the  shore.  The  canoe  got  loose  from  the 
shore,  and  floated  down  the  stream  farther  and 
farther,  until  it  came  near  to  the  island  which  is 
in  the  falls. 

The  roar  of  the  falls  awakened  one  of  them.  He 
cried  out  to  the  other,  "We  are  lost!"  But  by 
hard  work  they  succeeded  in  landing  the  canoe  at 
the  island. 

At  first  they  were  very  glad,  but  after  a  while 
they  thought  it  might  have  been  better  if  they  had 
gone  over  the  falls.  They  had  now  no  choice  but 
to  die  of  hunger  on  the  island,  or  to  throw  them 
selves  into  the  water. 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  island  there  is  no  water 
running  over  the  falls.  The  Indians  stripped  the 
bark  from  a  linden  or  basswood  tree.  This  bark 
is  very  tough  and  strong.  They  made  a  kind  of 
rope  ladder  of  it.  They  made  it  so  long  that  it 
reached  to  the  water  below  the  falls.  The  upper 
end  of  this  bark  ladder  they  tied  fast  to  a  great  tree 
that  grew  on  the  island.  The  other  end  they  let 
down  to  the  water  below  the  falls. 


100 

Then  they  went  down  this  ladder  until  they 
came  to  the  bottom.  The  water  was  roaring  on 
both  sides  of  them,  but  they  had  a  place  to  stand. 
Here  they  rested  a  little  while.  The  water  in 
front  of  them  was  not  rapid.  They  jumped  into 
it,  intending  to  swim  ashore.  But  the  water  that 
pours  in  from  the  falls  on  each  side,  runs  back 
against  the  rocks  in  this  place.  Every  time  the 
Indians  tried  to  swim,  they  were  thrown  back 
against  the  rocks  from  which  they  started.  At 
last  they  were  so  much  bruised  and  scratched, 
they  were  obliged  to  give  up  this  plan.  So  they 
climbed  back  up  their  bark  stairs  to  the  island, 
not  knowing  what  to  do. 

After  a  while  they  saw  other  Indians  on  the 
shore.  They  cried  out  to  these  to  come  and  help 
them.  The  other  Indians  did  not  know  what  to 
do.  They  had  no  way  of  getting  to  the  island.  If 
they  had  tried  to  get  there  in  a  canoe,  they  would 
have  been  carried  over  the  falls  themselves.  They 
went  to  the  fort,  and  told  the  commander  about  it. 
He  had  poles  made,  and  pointed  with  iron.  He 
persuaded  two  Indians  to  take  these  poles,  and 
walk  with  them  to  the  island. 

These  two  Indians  took  leave  of  all  their  friends 
as  if  they  were  going  to  die.  Each  of  them  took 
two  poles  in  his  hands.  They  set  these  poles 


IOI 

against  the  bottom  of  the  river  to  keep  themselves 
steady,  while  they  waded  through  the  water.  It 
was  a  very  dangerous  thing  to  do,  but  at  last  they 
got  to  the  island.  Then  they  gave  a  pole  to  each 
of  the  two  Indians,  and  all  four  of  them  started 
back  again.  By  the  help  of  the  poles  they  man 
aged  to  get  to  the  shore  in  safety. 


AMONG    THE   ADLK^TO&Sr  — '*'^ 

BEFORE  the  Revolution  there  lived  in  Pennsyl 
vania  a  man  named  William  Bartram.  He  was  a 
botanist;  that  is  to  say,  a  man  who  knew  a  great 
deal  about  different  kinds  of  plants.  Wishing  to 
see  the  plants  and  animals  of  the  South,  he 
traveled  through  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  so  on  into  Florida. 

In  a  little  canoe,  Bartram  set  out  to  go  up  the 
St.  Johns  River.  He  took  an  Indian  along  for  a 
guide,  but  the  Indian  got  tired  of  the  trip,  and  left 
him.  Bartram  kept  on  up  the  river  alone.  The 
country  was  wild,  and  the  river  was  filled  with  great 
alligators. 

Bartram  saw  two  large  alligators  fighting.  They 
ran  at  each  other  from  opposite  sides  of  the  river. 
They  lashed  the  water  with  their  tails.  They 


IO2 

met  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  fought  with 
great  fury,  making  the  water  boil  all  round  them. 
They  twisted  themselves  one  round  the  other,  and 
sank  to  the  bottom  fighting.  Their  struggles  at 
the  bottom  brought  up  a  great  deal  of  mud. 

Soon  they  came  to  the  top  once  more,  clapping 
their  great  jaws  together,  and  roaring.  They  fell 
on,  each  other  again,  and  sank  to  the  bottom.  But 
one  of  them  was  by  this  time  beaten.  He  swam 
^wayintjo  th  £:  reeds  on  the  bank.  The  other  rose 
to  the  top  of  the  water,  and  celebrated  his  victory 
by  a  loud  roaring  sound.  All  the  alligators  along 
the  shore  joined  in  the  horrible  roaring  at  the 
same  time. 

•The  alligators  had  gathered  in  great  crowds 
at  certain  places  to  catch  the  fish  that  were  coming 
up  from  the  sea.  Bartram  wanted  some  fish  for  his 
supper.  He  took  a  stick  to  beat  off  the  alligators, 
and  got  into  his  canoe.  But  the  farther  he  paddled 
from  the  shore,  the  more  the  alligators  crowded 
round  him.  Several  of  them  tried  to  overturn 
his  canoe.  Two  large  ones  attacked  him  at  the 
same  time,  with  their  heads  above  the  water,  and 
their  mouths  spouting  water  all  over  the  botanist. 
They  struck  their  jaws  together  so  close  to  his 
ears  that  the  sound  almost  stunned  him. 

Bartram  beat  them  off  with  his  club,  and  paddled 


103 

for  the  shore.  When  he  got  near  the  shore,  the 
alligators  left  him.  He  went  a  little  farther  up  the 
river,  and  got  some  fish.  When  he  came  back,  he 
kept  close  to  the  shore.  One  alligator  twelve  feet 
long  followed  him.  When  Bartram  went  ashore 
near  his  camp,  the  creature  crept  close  to  his  feet, 
and  lay  there  looking  at  him  for  some  time. 


Bartram  ran  to  his  camp  to  get  his  gun.  When 
he  came  back,  the  alligator  was  climbing  into  his 
boat  to  get  the  fish  he  had  caught.  He  fired  his 
gun,  and  killed  the  great  beast.  But  while  he  was 
cleaning  his  fish,  another  one  crept  up  to  him,  and 
would  have  dragged  him  into  the  water  if  Bartram 


104 

had  not  looked  up  just  in  time  to  get  out  of  his 
way.  The  next  day  he  was  pursued  by  more 
alligators;  but  he  beat  them  off  with  his  club,  and 
got  away. 

JASPER. 

"  MARION'S  Men  "  were  famous  in  the  Revolution 
for  their  bold  adventures.  The  best  known  of  all 
these  bold  men  was  Sergeant  Jasper.  At  the 
battle  of  Fort  Moultrie,  when  the  flag  of  the  fort 
was  shot  away,  Jasper  jumped  down  outside  of  the 
works,  and  picked  it  up.  The  balls  were  rain 
ing  round  him  all  the  time  he  was  outside,  but  he 
coolly  fastened  the  flag  to  a  rod  which  was  used  to 
wipe  out  the  cannon,  and  then  stuck  it  up  in  the 
sand  of  the  breastworks. 

When  General  Moultrie  saw  what  he  had  done, 
he  took  off  his  own  sword  and  gave  it  to  Sergeant 
Jasper. 

When  Moultrie  and  his  men  were  hiding  in  the 
swamps  of  South  Carolina,  Moultrie  would  send 
Jasper  to  find  out  what  the  British  were  doing. 
Jasper  could  change  his  looks  so  that  nobody 
would  know  him.  He  often  went  into  the  British 
camp,  pretending  to  be  on  that  side. 

Once  he  took  a  friend  with  him,  and  paid  a  visit 


105 

to  the  British  soldiers.  While  he  was  there,  a 
small  party  of  American  prisoners  were  brought 
in.  The  wife  of  one  of  the  prisoners  had  come 
with  her  husband,  carrying  her  child.  As  these 
men  had  once  fought  on  the  English  side,  they 


were  all  likely  to  be  put  to  death.  Jasper  felt 
sorry  for  them,  and  resolved  to  deliver  them  if 
he  could. 

The  prisoners  were  sent  to  Savannah  for  trial. 
Jasper  and  his  friend  left  the  British  camp  soon 
afterward,  but  they  went  in  the  opposite  direction. 
When  they  got  far  enough  away,  they  turned 


io6 

about  and  followed  the  party  with  the  prisoners. 
But  what  could  they  do  for  these  poor  fellows  ? 
There  were  ten  men  with  muskets  to  guard  the 
prisoners.  Neither  Jasper  nor  his  friend  had  a 
gun. 

But  they  knew  that  near  Savannah  there  was  a 
famous  spring  of  water.  They  thought  the  party 
would  stop  there  to  eat  and  drink.  So  Jasper 
and  his  friend  went  on  swiftly,  by  a  path  little 
known.  When  they  came  near  the  spring,  they 
hid  in  the  bushes. 

When  the  soldiers  with  their  prisoners  came  to 
the  spring,  they  halted.  The  prisoners  sat  down 
on  the  ground.  The  woman  sat  down  near  her 
husband.  Her  baby  fell  asleep  in  her  lap.  Six  of 
the  soldiers  laid  down  their  arms,  and  four  stood 
guard. 

Two  of  these  went  to  the  spring  to  get  water, 
and,  in  doing  this,  they  were  obliged  to  put  down 
their  guns.  In  an  instant  Jasper  and  his  friend 
leaped  out  of  the  bushes  and  seized  the  two  guns. 
They  killed  the  two  guards  who  had  guns,  before 
the  latter  could  shoot  them.  Then  they  knocked 
down  every  man  who  resisted  them,  and  got  pos 
session  of  all  the  rest  of  the  guns  of  the  British. 
With  these  they  took  the  eight  soldiers  prisoners. 
They  now  gave  guns  to  the  American  prisoners, 


and  marched  away  with  the  eight  British  soldiers 
in  captivity. 

Jasper  was  one  of  the  boldest  of  men.  He  did 
many  brave  things,  but  at  last  he  lost  his  life  in 
saving  the  flag  of  his  company  in  battle. 


SONG  OF   MARION'S   MEN. 

OUR  band  is  few,  but  tried  and  true, 

Our  leader  frank  and  bold: 
The  British  soldier  trembles 

When  Marion's  name  is  told. 

We  have  no  fort  but  dark  green  woods, 

Our  tent's  a  shady  tree: 
We  know  the  forest  round  us 

As  sailors  know  the  sea. 

With  merry  songs  we  mock  the  wind 
That  in  the  tree  top  grieves, 

And  slumber  long  and  sweetly 
On  beds  of  rustling  leaves. 

Well  knows  the  fair  and  friendly  moon 
The  band  that  Marion  leads, — 

The  glitter  of  their  rifles, 

The  scampering  of  their  steeds. 


'Tis   life    to    ride    the 

fiery  horse 
Across    the     moon 
light  plain; 
Tis    life    to    feel    the 

night  wind 
That  lifts    his    toss 
ing  mane. 

A  moment  in  the  Brit 
ish  camp  — 
A      moment  —  and 

away 
Back    to    the  pathless 

forest, 

Before   the  peep   of 
day. 

ADAPTED  FROM  BRYANT. 


One  of  Marion's  Men. 


A   BRAVE   GIRL. 

IN  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  a  regiment  of 
Hessian  soldiers  hired  to  fight  on  the  British  side 
were  camped  in  South  Carolina.  They  took  pos 
session  of  the  lower  part  of  the  house  of  a  farmer 


109 

named  Gibbes.  The  family  were  forced  to  retire 
to  the  upper  story. 

Two  American  boats  came  up  the  Stono  River, 
and  attacked  these  Hessians.  Cannon  balls  were 
soon  falling  all  about  the  house.  Mr.  Gibbes, 
who  was  so  ill  that  he  could  hardly  walk,  got 
leave  to  move  his  family  to  another  place.  To 
do  this,  the  whole  family  had  to  cross  a  field 
where  the  cannon  balls  were  flying  thick.  At 
last  they  got  out  of  reach  of  the  cannons.  Then 
they  remembered  that  a  little  baby  had  been  left 
behind.  Neither  Mr.  Gibbes  nor  his  wife  was 
able  to  travel  back  to  the  house  again.  The 
negroes  were  too  much  frightened  to  go.  All 
the  rest  were  children. 

Little  Mary  Anne  Gibbes  was  only  thirteen 
years  old.  The  baby  that  had  been  left  was  her 
cousin. 

"  I  will  go  and  get  him,"  she  said. 

It  was  *a  dark  and  stormy  night.  She  went 
back  into  the  heat  of  the  battle.  When  she 
reached  the  house,  the  soldier  who  stood  at  the 
door  would  not  let  her  go  in.  But,  with  tears 
in  her  eyes,  she  begged  so  hard  that  he  let  her 
pass.  In  the  third  story  of  the  house  she  found 
the  baby. 

Then    downstairs,    and    out    into    the    darkness 


no 


and  the  crash  of  battle,  she  went.  The  cannon 
balls  scattered  dust  over  her  and  the  baby  when 
they  struck  near  her,  but  she  got  back  to  her 
family  at  last,  carrying  the  baby  safe  in  her  arms. 


A   PRISONER   AMONG  THE   INDIANS. 

JAMES  SMITH  lived  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians  just  before  the 
famous  defeat  of  General  Braddock.  He  was  then 
about  eighteen  years  old.  The  Indians  took  him 
to  the  French  fort  where  Pittsburg  now  is.  They 
made  him  run  the  gauntlet;  that  is,  they  made 
him  run  between  two  lines  of  Indians,  who  were 
beating  him  all  the  way.  He  was  so  badly  beaten 
that  he  became  unconscious,  and  was  ill  for  a  good 
while  after.  But  at  length  he  got  well,  and  the 
Indians  took  him  to  their  own  country  in  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Ohio. 

When  they  arrived  at  their  own  town,  they  did 
not  kill  him,  as  he  thought  they  would ;  but  an 
Indian  pulled  the  hair  out  of  his  head  with  his 
fingers,  leaving  only  the  hair  that  grew  on  a  spot 
about  the  crown.  Part  of  this  he  cut  off  short. 
The  rest  was  twisted  up  in  Indian  fashion,  so  as  to 
make  him  look  like  a  savage.  They  pierced  his 


Ill 

ears,  and  put  earrings  in  them.  Then  they  pierced 
his  nose,  and  put  in  a  nose  ring.  They  stripped 
off  his  clothing,  and  put  on  the  light  clothing 
that  an  Indian  wears  about  the  middle  of  his 
body.  They  painted  his  head  where  the  hair  had 
been  plucked  out,  and  painted  his  face  and  body,  in 
several  colors.  They  put  some  beads  about  his 
neck,  and  silver  bands  upon  his  arms. 

All  this  time  James  thought  they  were  dressing 
him  up  to  kill  him.  But,  when  they  had  decked 
him  in  this  way,  an  old  chief  led  him  out  into  the 
village  street.  Holding  the  young  man  by  the 
hand,  he  cried  out,  — 

"  Koowigh,   Koowigh,  Koowigh  !  " 

All  the  Indians  came  running  out  of  their  houses 
when  they  heard  this.  The  old  chief  made  them 
a  long  speech  in  a  loud  voice.  James  could  not 
understand  what  this  speech  was  about.  When  it 
was  ended,  the  chief  handed  James  over  to  three 
young  Indian  women. 

James  thought  the  young  squaws  were  going  to 
put  him  to  death.  They  led  him  down  the  bank 
into  the  river.  The  squaws  made  signs  for  him  to 
plunge  himself  into  the  water;  but,  as  he  thought 
they  wished  to  drown  him,  he  refused.  He  was 
not  going  to  drown  himself  to  please  them.  The 
young  women  then  seized  him,  and  tried  to  put 


112 


him  under  water.  But  he  would  not  be  put  down. 
All  this  time  the  Indians  on  the  bank  were  laugh 
ing  heartily. 

Then  one  of  the  young  squaws,  who  could  speak 
a  little  English,  said,  "  No  hurt  you."     Smith  now 


James  Smith  sitting  on  a  Bearskin. 

gave  up  to  them,  and  they  scrubbed  him  well,  dip 
ping  his  head  under  water. 

When  he  came  out  of  the  water,  he  was  dressed 
up  in  a  lot  of  Indian  finery.  The  Indians  put 
feathers  in  his  hair,  and  made  him  sit  down  on  a 
bearskin.  They  gave  him  a  pipe,  and  a  tomahawk, 
and  a  bag  of  tobacco  and  dried  sumach  leaves  to 


H3 

smoke.  Then  they  made  a  speech  to  him,  which 
an  Indian  who  could  speak  English  explained  to 
him. 

They  said  that  he  had  been  made  a  member  of 
an  Indian  family  in  place  of  a  great  man  who  had 
been  killed.  And  then  they  gave  him  a  wooden 
bowl  and  a  spoon,  and  took  him  to  a  feast,  where 
Indian  politeness  required  that  he  should  eat  all 
the  food  given  to  him. 

After  James  Smith  was  adopted  by  the  Indians, 
he  learned  to  live  in  their  way.  He  learned  how 
to  make  little  bowls  out  of  elm  bark  to  catch 
maple-sugar  sap,  and  how  to  make  great  casks 
out  of  the  bark  to  hold  the  sap  till  it  could  be 
boiled.  He  learned  how  to  make  a  bearskin  into 
a  pouch  to  hold  bear's  oil,  of  which  the  Indians 
were  very  fond.  They  mixed  their  hominy  with 
bear's  oil  and  maple  sugar,  and  they  cooked  their 
venison  in  oil  and  sugar  also. 

The  Indians  gave  James  an  Indian  name. 
They  called  him  Scouwa.  The  Indians  gave  him 
a  gun.  Once  when  they  trusted  him  to  go  into 
the  woods  alone,  he  got  lost,  and  staid  out  all  night. 
Then  they  took  away  his  gun,  and  gave  him  a  bow 
and  arrow,  such  as  boys  carried.  For  nearly  two 
years  he  had  to,  carry  a  bow  and  arrows  like  a  boy. 

He  was  once  left   behind  when  there  was  a  great 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  8 


114 

snowstorm.  He  could  not  find  the  footsteps  of 
the  others,  on  account  of  the  driving  snow.  But 
after  a  while  he  found  a  hollow  tree.  There  was  a 
little  room  three  feet  wide  in  the  inside  of  the  tree. 
He  chopped  a  great  many  sticks  with  his  toma 
hawk  to  close  up  the  opening  in  the  side  of  the 
tree.  He  left  only  a  hole  big  enough  for  him  to 
crawl  in  through.  He  fixed  a  block  for  a  kind  of 
door,  so  as  to  close  this  hole  by  drawing  the  door 
shut  when  he  was  inside.  When  the  hole  was 
shut,  it  was  dark  in  the  tree. 

But  James,  or  Scouwa  as  he  was  called,  could 
stand  up  in  the  tree.  He  broke  up  rotten  wood 
to  make  a  bed  like  a  large  goose  nest.  He  danced 
up  and  down  on  his  bed  till  he  was  warm.  Then 
he  wrapped  his  blanket  about  him  and  lay  down 
to  sleep,  first  putting  his  damp  moccasins  under 
his  head  to  keep  them  from  freezing.  When  he 
awoke,  it  was  dark.  The  hole  in  the  tree  was 
so  well  closed  that  he  could  not  tell  whether  it 
was  daylight  or  not,  but  he  waited  a  long  time 
to  be  sure  that  day  had  come. 

Then  he  felt  for  the  opening.  At  last  he 
found  it.  He  pushed  on  the  block  that  he  had 
used  for  a  door,  but  three  feet  of  snow  had 
fallen  during  the  night.  All  his  strength  would 
not  move  the  block.  He  was  a  prisoner  under 


"5 

the  snow.  Not  one  ray  of  light  could  get  into 
this  dark  hole. 

Scouwa  was  now  frightened.  Not  knowing 
what  to  do,  he  lay  down  again  and  wrapped 
his  blanket  round  him,  and  tried  to  think  of  a 
way  to  get  out.  He  said  a  little  prayer  to  God. 
Then  he  felt  for  the  block  again.  This  time 
he  pushed  and  pushed  with  all  his  might.  The 
block  moved  a  few  inches,  and  snow  came  tum 
bling  through  the  hole.  This  let  a  little  daylight 
in,  and  Scouwa  was  happy. 

After  a  while  he  pulled  his  blanket  tight  about 
him,  stuck  his  tomahawk  in  his  belt,  and  took  his 
bow  in  hand.  Then  he  dug  his  way  out  through 
the  snow  into  the  daylight. 

All  the  paths  were  buried  under  the  deep  snow. 
The  young  man  had  no  compass.  The  sun  was 
not  shining.  How  could  he  tell  one  direction  from 
another,  or  find  his  way  to  the  Indian  camp  ?  The 
tall,  straight  trees,  especially  those  that  stand  alone, 
have  moss  on  the  north  or  northwest  side.  By 
looking  closely  at  these  trees,  he  found  out  which 
way  to  go.  It  was  about  noon  when  he  got  to  the 
camp.  The  Indians  had  made  themselves  snow- 
shoes  to  go  in  search  of  him. 

They  all  gathered  about  him,  glad  to  see  him. 
But  Indians  do  not  ask  questions  at  such  a  time. 


They  led  the  young  man  to  a  tent.  There  they 
gave  him  plenty  of  fat  beaver  meat  to  eat.  Then 
they  asked  him  to  smoke.  While  he  was  rest 
ing  here,  they  were  building  up  a  large  fire  in 
the  open  air.  Scouwa's  Indian  brother  asked  him 
to  come  out  to  the  fire.  Then  all  the  Indians 
young  and  old,  gathered  about  him. 

His  Indian  brother  now  asked  him  to  tell  what 
had  happened  to  him.  Scouwa  began  at  the 
beginning,  and  told  all  that  had  occurred.  The 
Indians  listened  with  much  eagerness. 

Then  the  Indian  brother  made  him  a  speech. 
He  told  the  young  man  that  they  were  glad  to 
see  him  alive.  He  told  him  he  had  behaved  like 
a  man.  He  said,  "  You  will  one  day  be  a  great 
man,  and  do  some  great  things." 

Soon  after  this,  the  Indians  bought  him  a 
gun,  paying  for  it  with  skins,  and  he  became 
a  hunter. 


HUNGRY   TIMES   IN   THE   WOODS. 

WHEN  James  Smith,  or  Scouwa,  had  been 
some  years  among  the  Indians,  he  was  in  a 
winter  camp  with  two  of  his  adopted  brothers. 
The  younger  of  these,  with  his  family,  went  away 


H7 

to  another  place.  Scouwa  was  left  with  the  older 
brother  and  his  little  son. 

The  older  brother  was  a  very  wise  Indian.  He 
had  thought  much  about  many  things.  He  talked 
to  his  young  white  brother  on  many  subjects,  and 
James  always  remembered  him  as  a  great  man. 

The  wise  Indian  was  now  suffering  from  rheu 
matism.  He  could  hardly  move  out  of  his  winter 
hut  at  all.  But  he  bore  it  all  with  gentle  patience. 
Scouwa  had  to  do  all  the  hunting  for  himself, 
the  old  man,  and  the  boy. 

Almost  the  only  food  to  be  had  was  deer  meat. 
From  time  to  time  Scouwa  succeeded  in  killing 
a  deer.  But  at  last  there  came  a  crust  of  snow. 
Whenever  the  hunter  tried  to  creep  up  to  a  deer, 
the  crust  would  break  under  his  feet  with  a  little 
crash,  and  the  noise  would  frighten  the  deer  away. 
After  a  while  there  was  no  food  in  the  cabin. 

Once  Scouwa  hunted  two  days  without  coming 
back  to  the  cabin,  and  with  nothing  to  eat.  He 
came  back  at  last  empty-handed. 

The  wise  Indian  asked  him,  "  What  luck  did 
you  have,  brother  ?  " 

"  None  at  all,"  said  Scouwa. 

"  Are  you  not  very  hungry  ?  "  asked  the  Indian. 

"  I  do  not  feel  so  hungry  now  as  I  did,"  said 
the  young  man,  "but  I  am  very  faint  and  weary." 


Then  the  lame  Indian  told  the  little  boy  to 
bring  something  to  eat.  The  boy  had  made  a 
broth  out  of  the  dry  old  bones  of  foxes  and  wild 
cats  that  lay  about  the  camp.  Scouwa  ate  this 
broth  eagerly,  and  liked  it. 

Then  the  old  chief  talked  to  Scouwa.  He  told 
him  that  the  Great  Spirit  would  provide  food  for 
them.  He  talked  in  this  way  for  some  time. 

At  last  he  said,  "  Brother,  go  to  sleep,  and  rise 
early  in  the  morning  and  go  hunting.  Be  strong, 
and  act  like  a  man.  The  Great  Spirit  will  direct 
your  way." 

In  the  morning  James  set  out  early,  but  the 
deer  heard  his  feet  breaking  through  the  snow 
crust.  Whenever  he  caught  sight  of  them,  they 
were  already  running  away.  The  young  man  now 
grew  very  hungry.  He  made  up  his  mind  to 
escape  from  the  Indians,  and  to  try  to  reach  his 
home  in  Pennsylvania.  He  knew  that  Indian 
hunters  would  probably  see  him  and  kill  him, 
but  he  was  so  nearly  starved  that  he  did  not 
care  for  his  life. 

He  walked  very  fast,  traveling  toward  the  east. 
All  at  once  he  saw  fresh  buffalo  tracks.  He 
followed  these  till  he  came  in  sight  of  the  buffa 
loes;  then,  faint  as  he  was,  he  ran  on  ahead  of 
the  animals,  and  hid  himself. 


Scouwa  shoots  a  Buffalo. 

When  the  buffaloes  came  near, 
he  fired  his  gun,  and  killed  a 
large  buffalo  cow.  He  quickly  kindled  a  fire,  and 
cut  off  a  piece  of  the  meat,  which  he  put  to  roast 
by  the  fire.  But  he  was  too  hungry  to  wait.  He 
took  his  meat  away  from  the  fire,  and  ate  it  before 
it  was  cooked. 

When  his  hunger  was  satisfied,  he  began  to 
think  about  the  wise  Indian  and  his  little  boy. 
He  could  not  bear  to  leave  them  to  starve,  so  he 
gave  up  his  plan  of  escaping. 

He  hung  the  meat  of  the  buffalo  where  the 
wolves  could  not  get  at  it.  Then  he  took  what 
he  could  carry,  and  traveled  back  thirteen  tedious 
miles  through  the  snow. 


I2O 

It  was  moonlight  when  he  got  to  the  hut. 
The  wise  Indian  was  as  good-natured  as  ever. 
He  did  not  let  hunger  make  him  cross.  He 
asked  Scouwa  if  he  were  not  tired.  He  told  the 
little  boy  to  make  haste  and  cook  some  meat. 

"  I  will  cook  for  you,"  said  Scouwa.  "  Let  the 
boy  roast  some  meat  for  himself." 

The  boy  threw  some  meat  on  the  coals,  but 
he  was  so  hungry  that  he  ate  it  before  it  was 
cooked.  Scouwa  cut  some  buffalo  meat  into  thin 
slices,  and  put  the  slices  into  a  kettle  to  stew 
for  the  starving  man.  When  these  had  boiled 
awhile,  he  was  going  to  take  them  off,  but  the 
Indian  said, 

"  No,  let  it  cook  enough." 

And  so,  hungry  as  he  was,  the  wise  Indian 
waited  till  the  meat  was  well  cooked,  and  then 
ate  without  haste,  and  talked  about  being  thank 
ful  to  the  Great  Spirit. 

The  next  day  Scouwa  started  back  for  another 
load  of  buffalo  meat.  When  he  had  gone  five 
miles,  he  saw  a  tree  which  a  bear  had  taken 
for  its  winter  home.  The  hole  in  the  tree  was 
far  from  the  ground.  Scouwa  made  some  bundles 
of  dry,  half-rotten  wood.  These  he  put  on  his 
back,  and  then  climbed  a  small  tree  that  stood 
close  to  the  one  with  a  hole  in  it.  The  rotten 


121 

wood  he  touched  to  a  burning  stick  from  a  fire  he 
had  kindled.  Then  he  dropped  the  smoking  bun 
dles  of  rotten  wood  one  after  another  down  into 
the  bear's  den,  and  quickly  slid  to  the  ground  again. 

The  bear  did  not  like  smoke.  After  a  while  he 
crawled  out  of  the  hole  to  get  breath..  Scouwa 
shot  him. 

He  hung  the  bear  meat  out  of  the  reach  of 
wolves,  and  carried  back  to  the  hut  all  that  he 
could  take  at  one  time.  The  old  man  and  the  boy 
were  greatly  pleased  when  they  heard  that  there 
was  bear  meat  as  well  as  buffalo  meat  in  plenty. 
After  this  they  had  food  enough. 


SCOUWA   BECOMES  A  WHITE   MAN   AGAIN. 

THE  next  year  after  this  hard  winter  in  the 
woods,  the  Indians  that  Scouwa  lived  with  went 
down  the  River  St.  Lawrence  to  Canada.  At  this 
time  Canada  belonged  to  the  French.  The  French 
were  at  war  with  the  English,  to  whom  Pennsyl 
vania  belonged.  The  Indians  were  on  the  side  of 
the  French. 

Scouwa  heard  that  there  were  prisoners  from 
his  country  who  were  to  be  sent  back  in  exchange 
for  French  prisoners.  He  slipped  away  from  the 


122 

Indians,  and  went  to  Montreal.  Here  he  put  him 
self  among  the  other  prisoners. 

After  a  while  the  prisoners  were  sent  back  to 
their  own  country.  Scouwa  came  to  his  own 
family  again.  They  did  not  know  that  he  was 
alive.  He  put  on  white  man's  clothes.  He  let  his 
hair  grow  like  a  white  man's.  He  spoke  English 
once  more.  He  was  no  longer  called  Scouwa,  but 
James  Smith.  But  still  he  walked  like  an  Indian. 
All  his  movements  were  those  of  an  Indian.  He 
had  lived  nearly  six  years  among  the  savages. 

He  afterward  became  a  colonel  among  the  white 
men.  He  moved  to  Kentucky,  and  fought  against 
the  Indians.  But  he  made  his  men  dress  and  fight 
as  the  red  men  did.  He  thought  it  was  the  best 
way  of  fighting  in  the  woods. 


A   BABY   LOST   IN   THE  WOODS. 

WHEN  people  first  began  to  move  across  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  there  were  no  roads  for 
wagons  ;  but  there  were  narrow  paths  called 
trails.  Families  traveled  to  the  west,  carrying 
their  goods  on  horseback  along  these  trails. 
Here  is  a  story  that  will  show  you  how  they 
traveled. 


123 

Among  those  who  went  from  Virginia  to 
Kentucky,  in  1781,  was  a  man  named  Benjamin 
Craig,  who  took  his  whole  family  with  him.  Mr. 
Craig  wore  a  hunting  shirt  and  leggings  of  buck 
skin  and  a  fur  cap.  Like  all  men  in  the  back 
woods,  he  carried  a  hatchet  and  a  knife  stuck  in 
his  belt,  and  he  almost  always  had  his  old-fash 
ioned  flintlock  rifle  on  his  right  shiulder.  A 
horn  to  hold  powder  was  worn  under  his  left 
arm,  and  supported  by  a  string  over  his  right 
shoulder.  He  had  a  little  buckskin  bag  of  bul 
lets  fastened  to  his  belt.  At  the  head  of  the 
party,  he  traveled  over  the  mountains  on  foot, 
walking  before  his  horses. 

The  horses  came  one  after  another.  On  the 
first  horse  rode  Mrs.  Craig.  She  carried  her  baby 
in  her  arms.  Tied  on  the  back  of  the  horse 
were  a  pot  and  a  skillet  for  frying.  In  a  bag 
on  the  same  horse  were  some  pewter  plates  and 
cups,  and  a  few  knives  and  forks. 

The  horse  on  which  Mrs.  Craig  rode  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  pack  horse;  that  is,  a  horse  carrying 
things  fastened  on  his  back.  This  horse  was  led 
by  means  of  a  rope  halter,  the  end  of  which  was 
tied  to  the  saddle  of  the  horse  in  front.  The 
pack  on  his  back  contained  some  meal  and  some 
salt.  This  was  all  the  food  the  family  carried 


124 

for  the   long   journey   over   the   mountains.     Mr. 
Craig  expected  to   get  meat    by  shooting  deer  or 
wild  turkeys  in  the  woods. 

The  same  pack  horse  carried  a  flat  piece  of 
iron  to  make  a  plow,  and  some  hoes  and  axes. 
The  hoes  and  axes  were  without  handles,  except 
one  ax,  which  was  used  to  cut  firewood  during 
the  journey.  Handles  could  be  made  for  the 
tools  after  the  family  got  to  Kentucky. 

Behind  this  horse  another  one  was  tied.  He 
carried  two  great  basket-like  things  hanging  on 
each  side  of  him.  These  baskets  or  crates  were 
made  of  hickory  boughs.  All  the  clothing  and 
bedding  that  people  could  take  on  such  long 
and  rough  journeys  was  stored  in  these  crates. 

In  the  middle  of  each  crate  a  hole  was  left. 
In  one  of  these  holes  rode  little  Master  George, 
a  boy  of  six.  In  the  other  was  stowed  Betsey,  a 
girl  of  four.  One  fine  day  during  the  journey, 
the  baby  was  put  into  the  basket  by  the  side  of 
Betsey,  and  then  the  two  older  children  amused 


125 


themselves  by  pointing  out  to  the  baby  the  things 
they  saw  by  the  wayside. 

At  length  the  narrow  trail  or  path  passed 
along  the  edge  of  a  dangerous  cliff.  George  and 
Betsey  shut  their  eyes,  so  as  not  to  see  how  steep 
the  place  was.  They  were  afraid  the  horse  might 
fall  off,  and  they  be  dashed  to  pieces.  But  baby 
Ben  only  laughed  and  crowed,  for  what  did  a  little 
fellow  like  him  know  about  danger.  A  hired  man 
walked  behind  the  last  horse  to  see  that  nothing 
was  lost. 

When  night  came,  the  horses  were  unloaded  and 
turned  loose.  The  little  bells  tied  round  their 
necks  had  oeen  stuffed  with  grass  during  the  day 
to  keep  them  from  jingling.  This  grass  was  re 
moved,  and  the  bells  set  a-tinkling,  so  that  the 
horses  could  be  found  in  the  morning.  The  tired 
pack  horses  began  at  once  to  eat  the  long  grass, 
now  and  then  nibbling  the  boughs  of  young 
trees. 

A  fire  was  built  by  a  stream,  and  supper  was 


126 

cooked.  If  it  had  been  raining,  the  men  would 
have  built  a  little  tent  of  boughs  or  bark  for  the 
family,  but,  as  the  weather  was  clear,  beds  were 
made  of  grass  and  dry  leaves  in  the  open  air.  The 
whole  family  slept  under  blue  woolen  coverlets,  with 
only  the  starry  sky  for  shelter.  The  fire  was  kept 
up  for  fear  of  wolves. 

In  the  morning  the  children  played  about  while 
the  mother  got  breakfast.  When  the  meal  was 
over,  Mr.  Craig  and  the  hired  man  went  to  look  for 
'one  of  the  horses  that  had  strayed  away.  Baby  Ben 
climbed  into  his  mother's  lap,  as  she  sat  upon  the 
log,  and  fell  asleep.  In  order  to  have  things  all 
packed  by  the  time  the  men  returned,  the  mother 
laid  the  little  fellow  on  some  long  dry  grass  that 
grew  among  the  boughs  of  a  fallen  tree.  When 
the  father  returned,  it  was  nine  o'clock.  He 
hurried  the  mother  upon  her  horse  among  the  pots 
and  pans,  saying  that  he  wished  to  overtake  a  com 
pany  of  travelers  that  was  ahead  of  him,  so  as  to 
travel  more  safely. 

"  Now  fetch  me  the  baby,"  said  Mrs.  Craig. 

"  No,  mother,  please  let  the  baby  ride  with  me 
again,"  said  little  Betsey,  just  come  back  from 
washing  her  face  in  the  creek. 

"  All  right,"  said  Mrs.  Craig.  "  Put  the  baby  on 
with  the  children.  This  horse  is  slow,  and  I  will 


127 

ride  on.  You  can  bring  the  other  horses,  and  catch 
up  with  me  soon." 

By  the  time  the  second  horse  was  loaded,  and 
George  and  Betsey  were  stowed  away  in  their 
baskets,  both  the  father  and  Betsey  had  forgotten 
about  the  baby.  The  mother  had  got  so  far  ahead 
that  it  took  the  other  horses  nearly  an  hour  to 
overtake  her's. 

"  Where  is  the  baby  ? "  cried  the  mother  when 
she  looked  back  and  saw  but  two  children  on  the 
horse  behind. 

Sure  enough,  where  was  the  baby  ?  Lying  under 
a  tree  top  in  the  lonesome  woods,  where  there  might 
be  fierce  wolves,  great  panthers,  or  hungry  wildcats. 

Mr.  Craig  was  almost  frantic  when  he  thought  of 
the  baby's  danger.  He  stripped  the  things  from 
the  middle  horse,  and  sprang  on  his  back,  gun  in 
hand.  He  laid  whip  to  the  horse,  and  was  soon 
galloping  back  over  the  rough  path.  For  more 
than  an  hour  the  mother  and  children  waited  with 
the  hired  man,  to  learn  whether  the  baby  had  been 
killed  by  some  wild  animal  or  not. 

At  last  the  sound  of  Mr.  Craig's  horse  coming 
back  was  heard,  and  all  held  their  breath.  As  the 
father  came  in  sight  in  a  full  gallop,  he  shouted, 
"  Here  he  is  safe  and  sound !  The  little  rascal 
hadn't  waked  up." 


128 

Mrs.  Craig  and  Betsey  shed  tears  of  joy.  George 
turned  his  face  away,  and  wiped  his  eyes  with  his 
coat  sleeve.  He  wasn't  going  to  cry:  he  was  a 
boy. 

ELIZABETH    ZANE. 

ON  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River,  near  the  place 
where  the  city  of  Wheeling  now  stands,  there  was 
once  a  fort  called  Fort  Henry.  This  fort  was  of 
the  kind  called  a  blockhouse,  which  is  a  house 
built  of  logs  made  to  fit  close  together.  The 
upper  part  of  the  house  jutted  out  beyond  the 
lower,  in  order  that  the  men  in  the  blockhouse 
might  shoot  downwards  at  the  Indians  if  they 
should  come  near  the  house  to  set  it  on  fire. 
Fort  Henry  was  surrounded  with  a  stockade ;  that 
is,  a  fence  made  by  setting  posts  in  the  ground  close 
together. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War  the  Indians  in 
the  neighborhood  of  this  fort  were  fighting  on  the 
side  of  the  English.  A  large  number  of  them 
came  to  Fort  Henry,  and  tried  to  take  it.  All  the 
men  that  were  sent  outside  of  the  fort  to  fight  the 
Indians  were  either  killed,  or  kept  from  going  back. 
The  women  and  the  children  of  the  village  which 
stood  near  had  all  gone  into  the  fort  for  safety. 


129 

When  at  last  the  fiercest  attack  of  the  Indians 
was  made,  there  were  only  twelve  men  and  boys 
left  inside  of  the  fort.  These  men  and  boys  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  do  their  best  to  save  the 
lives  of  the  women  and  children  who  were  with 
them.  Every  man  and  every  boy  in  the  fort  knew 
how  to  shoot  a  rifle.  They  had  guns  enough, 
but  they  had  very  little  powder.  So  they  fired 
only  when  they  were  sure  of  hitting  one  of  the 
enemy. 

The  Indians  kept  shooting  all  the  time.  Some 
of  them  crept  near  to  the  blockhouse,  and  tried 
to  shoot  through  the  cracks,  but  the  bullets  of  the 
men  inside  brought  down  these  brave  warriors. 

After  many  hours  of  fighting,  the  Indians  went 
off  a  little  way  to  rest.  The  white  men  had  now 
used  nearly  all  their  gunpowder.  They  began  to 
wish  for  a  keg  of  powder  that  had  been  left  in  one 
of  the  houses  outside.  They  knew  that  whoever 
should  go  for  this  would  be  seen  and  fired  at  by 
the  Indians.  He  would  have  to  run  to  the  house 
and  back  again.  The  colonel  called  his  men  to 
gether,  and  told  them  he  did  not  wish  to  order  any 
man  to  do  so  dangerous  a  thing  as  to  get  the 
powder,  but  he  said  he  should  like  to  have  some 
one  offer  to  go  for  it. 

Three  or  four   young  men  offered   to  go.     The 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE  —  9 


130 


colonel  told  them  he  could  not  spare  more  than 
one  of  them.  They  must  settle  among  themselves 
which  one  should  go.  But  each  one  of  the  brave 
fellows  wanted  to  go,  and  none  of  them  was  will 
ing  to  give  up  to  another.  Then  there  stepped 
forward  a  young  woman  named  Elizabeth  Zane. 
"  Let  me  go  for  the  powder,"  she  said. 
The  brave  men  were  surprised.  It  would  be  a 
desperate  thing  for  a  man  to  go.  Nobody  had 
dreamed  that  a  woman  would  venture  to  do  such 
a  thing,  nor  would  any  of  them  agree  to  let  a 
MTK!  young  woman  go  into 
I  ||k  such  danger. 

I|     The  colonel  said, "  No," 
|H  and  her  friends  begged 
J|  her    not    to    run 

^sb  the  risk.    They 

&UTO  toldher,besides, 

that  any  one  of 
the  young  men 
could  run  faster 
than  she  could. 
But      Eliza 
beth  said, "  You 
cannot       spare 
a    single    man. 
Elizabeth  zane's  Return.  There    are   not 


enough  men  in  the  fort  now.  If  I  am  killed,  you 
will  be  as  strong  to  fight  as  before.  Let  the 
young  men  stay  where  they  are  needed,  and  let  me 
go  for  the  powder." 

She  had  made  up  her  mind,  and  nobody  could 
persuade  her  not  to  go.  So  the  gate  of  the  fort 
was  opened  just  wide  enough  for  her  to  get  out 
Her  friends  gave  her  up  to  die. 

Some  of  the  Indians  saw  the  gate  open,  and  saw 
the  young  woman  running  to  the  house,  but  they 
did  not  shoot  at  her.  They  probably  thought  that 
they  would  not  waste  a  bullet  on  a  woman.  They 
could  make  her  a  prisoner  at  any  time. 

She  did  not  try  to  carry  the  powder  keg,  but  she 
took  the  powder  in  a  girl's  way.  She  filled  her 
apron  with  it.  When  she  came  out  of  the  house 
with  her  apron  full  of  powder,  and  started  to  run 
back  to  the  fort,  the  Indians  fired  at  her.  It 
happened  that  all  of  their  bullets  missed  her.  The 
gate  was  opened  again,  and  she  got  safely  into  the 
fort.  The  men  were  glad  that  they  had  powder 
enough,  and  they  all  felt  braver  than  ever,  after  they 
had  seen  what  a  girl  could  do. 

The  Indians  had  seen  the  gate  opened  to  let  her 
out  and  to  let  her  in  again,  They  thought  they 
could  force  the  gate  open;  but  they  could  not  go 
and  push  against  it  because  the  men  in  the  block- 


132 

house  would  shoot  them  if  they  did.  So  they  made 
a  wooden  cannon.  They  got  a  hollow  log  and 
stopped  up  one  end  of  it.  Then  they  went  to  the 
blacksmith's  shop  in  the  little  village  and  got  some 
chains.  They  tied  these  chains  round  the  log  to 
hold  it  together.  They  had  no  cannon  balls,  so, 
after  putting  gunpowder  into  the  log,  they  put  in 
stones  and  bits  of  iron.  After  dark  that  evening 
they  dragged  this  wooden  cannon  up  near  to  the 
gate.  When  all  was  ready,  they  touched  off  their 
cannon.  The  log  cannon  burst  into  pieces,  and 
killed  some  of  the  Indians,  but  did  not  hurt  the 
fort. 

The  next  day  white  men  came  from  other  places 
to  help  the  men  in  the  fort.  They  got  into  the  fort, 
and  after  a  few  more  attacks  the  Indians  gave  up 
the  battle  and  went  away. 

Whenever  the  story  of  the  brave  fight  at  Fort 
Henry  is  told,  people  do  not  forget  that  the  bravest 
one  in  it  was  the  girl  that  brought  her  apron  full  of 
gunpowder  to  the  men  in  the  fort. 


133 


THE   RIVER   PIRATES. 

A  HUNDRED  years  ago  the  country  near  the  great 
rivers  in  the  interior  of  the  United  States  was  a 
wilderness.  It  contained  only  a  few  people,  and 
these  lived  in  settlements  which  were  widely  sepa 
rated  from  one  another.  Hardly  any  of  the  great 
trees  had  been  cut  down. 

There  were  no  roads,  except  Indian  trails  through 
the  woods.  Nearly  all  travelers  had  to  follow  the 
rivers.  Steamboats  had  not  yet  been  invented. 
Travelers  made  journeys  on  flatboats,  keel  boats, 
and  barges.  It  was  easy  enough  to  go  down  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  in  this  way,  but  it  was 
hard  to  come  up  again.  It  took  about  fifty  men 
to  work  a  boat  against  the  stream,  and  many 
months  were  spent  in  going  up  the  river. 

Boats  were  pushed  up  the  river  by  means  of 
poles.  The  boatmen  pushed  these  against  the 
bottom  of  the  river.  When  the  water  was  deep  or 
the  current  very  swift,  a  rope  was  taken  out  ahead 
of  the  boat,  and  tied  to  a  tree  on  the  bank.  The 
line  was  then  slowly  drawn  in  by  means  of  a 
capstan,  and  this  drew  the  boat  forward. 

Sometimes  the  boat  was  "  cordelled,"  or  towed  by 
the  men  walking  on  the  shore  and  drawing  the 


134 

barge  by  a  rope  held  on  their  shoulders.  But  when 
there  chanced  to  be  a  strong  wind  blowing  up 
stream,  the  boatmen  would  hoist  sail,  and  joyfully 
make  headway  against  the  current  without  so  much 
toil. 

These  slow-going  boats  were  in  danger  from 
Indians.  They  were  in  even  greater  danger  from 
robbers,  who  hid  themselves  along  the  shore.  Some 
of  these  robbers  lived  in  caves.  Some  kept  boats 
hidden  in  the  mouths  of  streams  that  flowed  into 
the  large  rivers. 

In  1787  all  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi 
still  belonged  to  France.  The  French  territory 
stretched  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  what  is  now 
Minnesota.  It  was  all  called  Louisiana.  New 
Orleans  and  St.  Louis  were  then  French  towns, 
and  the  travel  between  them  was  carried  on  by 
means  of  boats,  which  floated  down  the  stream,  and 
were  then  brought  back  by  poles,  ropes,  and  sails. 

The  trip  was  as  long  as  a  voyage  to  China  is 
nowadays.  The  boats  or  barges  set  out  from 
St.  Louis  in  the  spring,  carrying  furs.  They  got 
back  again  in  the  fall  with  goods  purchased  in 
New  Orleans. 

In  this  year,  1787,  a  barge  belonging  to  a  Mr. 
Beausoleil  (bo-so-lay)  started  from  New  Orleans  to 
make  the  voyage  to  St.  Louis.  The  goods  with 


135 

which  it  was  loaded  were  very  valuable.  Slowly 
the  men  toiled  up  against  the  stream  day  after  day. 
At  length  the  little  vessel  came  near  to  the  mouth 
of  Cottonwood  Creek.  A  well-known  robber  band 
lurked  at  this  place.  With  joy  the  boatmen  saw  a 
favorable  wind  spring  up.  They  spread  their  sails, 
and  the  driving  gale  carried  the  barge  in  safety 
past  the  mouth  of  the  creek. 

But  the  pirates  of  Cottonwood  Creek  were 
unwilling  to  lose  so  rich  a  treasure.  They  sent 
a  company  of  men  by  a  short  cut  overland  to  head 
off  the  barge  at  a  place  farther  up  the  river.  Two 
days  after  passing  Cottonwood  Creek  the  barge 
men  brought  the  boat  to  land.  They  felt  them 
selves  beyond  danger.  But  the  robbers  came 
suddenly  out  of  the  woods,  took  possession  of 
the  boat,  and  ordered  the  crew  to  return  down  the 
river  to  Cottonwood  Creek. 

When  they  turned  back  toward  the  robbers'  den, 
Beausoleil  was  in  despair.  His  whole  fortune  was 
on  the  barge.  He  did  not  know  whether  the  rob 
bers  would  kill  him  and  his  men,  or  not.  The  only 
man  of  the  crew  who  showed  no  regret  was  the 
cook.  This  cook  was  a  fine-looking  and  very 
intelligent  mulatto  slave  named  Cacasotte.  In 
stead  of  repining,  he  fell  to  dancing  and  laughing. 

u  I  am  glad  the  boat  was  taken,"  he  cried.     "  I 


136 

have  been  beaten  and  abused  long  enough.  Now 
I  am  freed  from  a  hard  master." 

Cacasotte  devoted  himself  to  his  new  masters, 
the  robbers.  In  a  little  while  he  had  won  their 
confidence.  He  was  permitted  to  go  wherever  he 
pleased,  without  any  watch  upon  his  movements. 

He  found  a  chance  to  talk  with  Beausoleil,  and 
to  lay  before  him  a  plan  for  retaking  the  boat  from 
the  villains.  Beausoleil  thought  the  undertaking 
too  dangerous,  but  at  length  he  gave  his  consent. 
Cacasotte  then  whispered  his  plan  to  two  others  of 
the  crew. 

Dinner  was  served  to  the  pirates  on  deck. 
Cacasotte  took  his  place  by  the  bow  of  the  boat,  so 
as  to  be  near  the  most  dangerous  of  the  robbers. 
This  robber  was  a  powerful  man,  well  armed. 
When  Cacasotte  saw  that  the  others  had  taken 
their  places  as  he  had  directed,  he  gave  the  signal, 
and  then  pushed  the  huge  robber  at  his  side 
into  the  water.  In  three  minutes  the  powerful 
Cacasotte  had  thrown  fourteen  of  the  robbers  into 
the  waves.  The  other  men  had  also  done  their 
best.  The  deck  was  cleared  of  the  pirates,  who 
had  to  swim  for  their  lives.  The  robbers  who 
remained  in  the  boat  were  too  few  to  resist.  Beau 
soleil  found  himself  again  master  of  his  barge, 
thanks  to  the  coolness  and  courage  of  Cacasotte. 


137 

But  the  bargemen  dared  n*t  g*  *n  up  the  river. 
Against  the  stream  they  wftuld  have  to  g0  slowly, 
and  there  wfruld  be  danger  from  the  robbers  remain 
ing  at  C*ttenw^0d  Creek :  s*  they  kept  en  dawn  the 
river  t*  New  Orleans. 

The  next  year  ten  b*ats  left  New  f)rleans  in 
company.  These  barges  carried  small  cannons,  and 
their  crew  were  all  armed.  When  they  reached 
Cott©nw©od  Creek,  men  were  seen  «n  shere ;  but 
when  an  armed  ftrce  was  landed,'  the  rubbers 
had  fled.  The  l«ng,  low  hut  which  had  been 
their  dwelling  remained.  There  were  alse  several 
flathfats  leaded  with  valuable  gn&ds  taken  from 
captured  barges.  This  plunder  was  carried  to  St. 
Lauis,  and  restored  t0  the  rightful  jjfwners.  F«ir 
fifty  years  afterwards  this  was  knawn  as  "  The  Year 
ff  the  Ten  B6ats."  Cacas^tte's  brave  victory  was 
fcrg^tten. 


OLD-FASHIONED    TELEGRAPHS. 

THE    MUSKET    TELEGRAPH. 

THERE  are  many  people  living  who  can  remem 
ber  when  there  were  no  telegraphs  such  as  we  have 
now.  The  telephone  is  still  younger.  Railroads 
are  not  much  older  than  telegraphs.  Horses  and 


138* 

stagecoaches  were  slow.  How  did  people  send 
messages  quickly  when  there  were  no  telegraph 
wires  ? 

When  colonies  in  America  were  first  settled  by 
white  people,  there  were  wars  with  the  Indians. 
The  Indians  would  creep  into  a  neighborhood  and 
kill  all  the  people  they  could,  and  then  they  would 
get  away  before  the  soldiers  could  overtake  them. 
But  the  white  people  made  a  plan  to  catch  them. 

Whenever  the  Indians  attacked  a  settlement,  the 
settler  who  saw  them  first  took  his  gun  and  fired  it 
three  times.  Bang,  bang,  bang!  went  the  gun. 
The  settlers  who  lived  near  the  man  who  fired 
the  gun  heard  the  sound.  They  knew  that  three 
shots  following  one  another  quickly,  meant  that  the 
Indians  had  come. 

Every  settler  who  heard  the  three  shots  took  his 
gun  and  fired  three  times.  It  was  bang,  bang,  bang ! 
again.  Then,  as  soon  as  he  had  fired,  he  went  in 
the  direction  of  the  first  shots.  Every  man  who 
had  heard  three  shots,  fired  three  more,  and  went 
toward  the  shots  he  had  heard.  Farther  and 
farther  away  the  settlers  heard  the  news,  and  sent 
it  along  by  firing  so  that  others  might  hear.  Soon 
little  companies  of  men  were  coming  swiftly  in  every 
direction.  The  Indians  were  sure  to  be  beaten  off 
or  killed. 


139 

This  was  a  kind  of  telegraph.  But  there  were 
no  wires ;  there  was  no  electricity ;  only  one  flint 
lock  musket  waking  up  another  flintlock  musket, 
till  a  hundred  guns  had  been  fired,  and  a  hundred 
men  were  marching  to  the  battle. 

TELEGRAPHING   BY   FIRE. 

The  firing  of  signal  guns  was  telegraphing  by 
sound.  It  used  only  the  hearing.  But  there  were 
other  ways  of  telegraphing  that  used  the  sight. 
These  have  been  known  for  thousands  of  years. 
They  were  known  even  to  savage  people. 

The  Indians  on  the  plains  use  fires  to  telegraph 
to  one  another.  Sometimes  they  build  one  fire, 
sometimes  they  build  many.  When  a  war  party, 
coming  back  from  battle,  builds  five  fires  on  a  hill, 
the  Indians  who  see  it  know  that  the  party  has 
killed  five  enemies. 

But  the  Indians  have  also  what  are  known  as 
smoke  signals.  An  Indian  who  wishes  to  send  a 
message  to  a  party  of  his  friends  a  long  way  off, 
builds  a  fire.  When  it  blazes,  he  throws  an  armful 
of  green  grass  on  it.  This  causes  the  fire  to  send 
up  a  stream  of  white  smoke  hundreds  of  feet  high, 
which  can  be  seen- fifty  miles  away  in  clear  weather. 
Among  the  Apaches,  one  column  of  smoke  is  to  call 


140 

attention ;  two  columns  say,  "  All  is  well,  and  we 
are  going  to  remain  in  this  camp;"  three  columns 
, mmjjm  or  more  are  a  sign  of  dan 
ger,  and  ask  for  help. 

Sometimes  longer  mes 
sages  are  sent.  After 
building  a  fire  and  put 
ting  green  grass  upon  it, 
the  Indian  spreads  his 
blanket  over  it.  He  holds 
down  the  edges,  to  shut 


A  Smoke  Signal. 


the  smoke  in.  After  a  few  moments  he  takes  his 
blanket  off ;  and  when  he  does  this,  a  great  puff  of 
smoke,  like  a  balloon,  shoots  up  into  the  air.  This 
the  Indian  does  over  and  over.  One  putf  of  smoke 
chases  another  upward.  By  the  number  of  these 
puffs,  and  the  length  of  the  spaces  between  them, 
he  makes  his  meaning  understood  by  his  friends 
many  miles  away. 

At  night  the  Indians  smear  their  arrows  with 
something  that  will  burn  easily.  One  of  them 
draws  his  bow.  Just  as  he  is  about  to  let  his  arrow 
fly,  another  one  touches  it  with  fire.  The  arrow 
blazes  as  it  shoots  through  the  air,  like  a  fiery 
dragon  fly.  One  burning  arrow  follows  another; 
and  those  who  see  them  read  these  telegraph  sig 
nals,  and  know  what  is  meant. 

TELEGRAPHS  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Our  forefathers  sometimes  used  fire  to  telegraph 
with  in  the  Revolution.  Whenever  the  British 
troops  started  on  a  raid  into  New  Jersey,  the  watch 
men  on  the  hilltops  lighted  great  beacon  fires. 
Those  who  saw  the  fires  lighted  other  fires  farther 
away.  These  fires  let  the  people  know  that  the 
enemy  was  coming,  for  light  can  travel  much  faster 
than  men  on  horseback. 


142 

Have  you  heard  the  story  of  Paul  Revere? 
When  the  British  were  about  to  send  troops  from 
Boston  to  Lexington,  Revere  and  his  friends  had 
an  understanding  with  the  people  in  Charlestown. 
Revere  was  to  let  them  know  when  the  troops 
should  march.  They  were  to  watch  a  certain  church 
steeple.  If  one  lantern  were  hung  in  the  steeple,  it 
would  mean  that  the  British  were  marching  by  land. 
If  two  lanterns  were  seen,  the  Charlestown  people 
would  know  that  the  troops  were  leaving  Boston  by 
water.  Revere  was  sent  as  a  messenger  to  Lexing 
ton.  He  sent  a  friend  of  his  to  hang  up  the  lanterns 
in  the  church  steeple. 

"  Then  he  climbed  the  tower  of  the  Old  North  Church, 
By  the  wooden  stairs,  with  stealthy  tread, 
To  the  belfry  chamber  overhead, 
And  startled  the  pigeons  from  their  perch 
On  the  somber  rafters,  that  round  him  made 
Masses  and  moving  shapes  of  shade, — 
By  the  trembling  ladder,  steep  and  tall, 
To  the  highest  window  in  the  wall, 
Where  he  paused  to  listen  and  look  down 
A  moment  on  the  roofs  of  the  town, 
And  the  moonlight  flowing  over  all." 

Long  before  Paul  Revere  got  across  the  water  in 
his  little  boat,  the  people  on  the  other  side  had  seen 
the  lanterns  in  the  tower.  They  knew  the  British 


143 

were  coming,  and  were  all  astir 
when  Paul  Revere  got  over.  Re 
vere  rode  on  to  Lexington  and 
beyond,  to  alarm  the  people. 

The  lines  above  are  from  a 
poem  of  Longfellow's  about  this 
ride.  The  poem  is  very  interest 
ing,  but  it  does  not  tell  the  story 
quite  correctly. 

Paul  Revere 's  lanterns  were 
used  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  War.  There  is  a  story  of 
a  different  sort  of  telegraph  used 
when  the  war  was  near  its  end. 
It  is  told  by  a  British  officer  who 
had  not  the  best  means  of  know 
ing  whether  it  was  true  or  not. 
But  it  shows  what  kind  of  tele 
graphs  were  used  in  that  day. 
This  is  the  story  :  —  , 

A  British  army  held  New 
York.    Another  British  army 
under  Cornwallis  was  at 
Yorktown  in  Virginia. 
General  Washington  J1 
had  marched  to  York- 
town.     He  was  trying 


;«>M 

Old  North  Church  Steeple. 


144 

to  capture  the  army  of  General  Cornwallis.  He 
was  afraid  that  ships  and  soldiers  would  be  sent 
from  New  York  to  help  Cornwallis.  But  there 
were  men  in  New  York  who  were  secretly  on 
Washington's  side.  One  of  these  was  to  let  him 
know  when  ships  should  sail  to  help  Cornwallis. 

But  Washington  was  six  hundred  miles  away 
from  New  York.  How  could  he  get  the  news 
before  the  English  ships  should  get  there  ?  There 
were  no  telegraphs.  The  fastest  horses  ridden  one 
after  another  could  hardly  have  carried  news  to  him 
in  less  than  two  weeks.  But  Washington  had  a  plan. 
One  of  the  men  who  sent  news  to  Washington  was 
living  in  New  York.  When  the  ships  set  sail,  he 
went  up  on  the  top  of  his  house  and  hoisted  a 
white  flag,  or  something  that  looked  like  a  white 
flag. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Hudson  River  in  a  little 
village  a  man  was  watching  this  very  house.  As 
soon  as  he  saw  the  white  flag  flapping,  he  took  up 
his  gun  and  fired  it.  Farther  off  there  was  a  man 
waiting  to  hear  this  gun.  When  he  heard  it,  he 
fired  another  gun.  Farther  on  there  was  the  crack 
of  another,  and  then  another  gun.  By  the  firing  of 
one  gun  after  another  the  news  went  southward. 
Bang,  bang !  went  gun  after  gun  across  the  whole 
State  of  New  Jersey.  Then  guns  in  Pennsylvania 


145 

took  it  up  and  sent  the  news  onward.  Then  on 
across  the  State  of  Maryland  the  news  went  from 
one  gun  to  another,  till  it  reached  Virginia,  where  it 
passed  on  from  gun  to  gun  till  it  got  to  Yorktown. 
In  less  than  two  days  Washington  knew  that  ships 
were  coming. 

When  Washington  knew  that  British  ships  were 
coming,  he  pushed  the  fighting  at  Yorktown  with 
all  his  might.  When  the  English  ships  got  to 
Chesapeake  Bay  at  last,  Cornwallis  had  already 
surrendered.  The  United  States  was  free.  The 
ships  had  come  too  late. 

A    BOY'S    TELEGRAPH. 

The  best  telegraph  known  before  the  use  of  elec 
tricity,  was  invented  by  two  schoolboys  in  France. 
They  were  brothers  named  Chappe  (shap-pay). 
They  were  in  different  boarding  schools  some  miles 
apart,  and  the  rules  of  their  schools  did  not  allow 
them  to  write  letters  to  each  other.  But  the  two 
schools  were  in  sight  of  each  other.  The  brothers 
invented  a  telegraph.  They  put  up  poles  with  bars 
of  wood  on  them.  These  bars  would  turn  on  pegs 
or  pins.  The  bars  were  turned  up  or  down,  or  one 
up  and  another  down,  or  two  down  and  one  up,  and 
so  on.  Every  movement  of  the  bars  meant  a  letter. 

~?GGL.  AMER.  LIFE —  IO 


146 

In  this  way  the  two  brothers  talked  to  each  other, 
though  they  were  miles  apart.  When  the  boys  be 
came  men,  they  sold  their  plan  to  the  French 
Government.  The  money  they  got  made  their 
fortune. 

About  the  time  they  were  selling  this  plan   to 


A  Mail  Carrier. 

the  French  Government,  a  boy  named  Samuel 
Morse  was  born  in  this  country.  Fifty  years  later 
this  Samuel  Morse  set  up  the  first  Morse  electric 
telegraph,  which  is  the  one  we  now  use. 

In    the    old    days    before    telegraph  wires    were 
strung  all  over  the  country,  it  took  weeks  to  carry 


147 

news  to  places  far  away.  There  were  no  railroads, 
and  the  mails  had  to  travel  slowly.  A  boy  on  a 
horse  trotted  along  the  road  to  carry  the  mail  bags 
to  country  places.  From  one  large  city  to  another, 
the  mails  were  carried  by  stagecoaches. 

When  the  people  had  voted  for  President,  it  was 
weeks  before  the  news  of  the  election  could  be 
gathered  in.  Then  it  took  other  weeks  to  let  the 
people  in  distant  villages  know  the  name  of  the 
new  President.  Nowadays  a  great  event  is  known 
in  almost  every  part  of  the  country  on  the  very  day 
it  happens. 


A   BOY'S    FOOLISH    ADVENTURE. 

THE  Natural  Bridge  has  long  been  thought  one 
of  the  great  curiosities  of  our  country.  It  is  in 
Virginia,  and  the  county  in  which  it  is  situated 
is  called  Rockbridge  County. 

The  traveler  is  riding  in  a  stage  on  a  wild  road 
in  the  mountains.  The  road  grows  narrow.  Soon 
it  is  a  mere  lane,  with  high  board  fences  and  small 
trees  on  each  side.  But  the  traveler  sees  nothing 
to  show  him  that  he  is  on  the  wonderful  Natural 
Bridge. 

The    bridge    that    he    is    driving   over   is    about 


The  Natural  Bridge. 


149 

forty  feet  thick,  and  of  solid  rock.  If  he  should  go 
to  the  other  side  of  the  board  fence,  he  could  look 
down  into  a  ravine  more  than  two  hundred  feet 
deep. 

When  the  traveler  goes  down  into  the  ravine, 
he  looks  up  at  the  beautiful  curve  of  this  great 
bridge  of  rock.  The  bridge  is  nearly  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  feet  above  his  head. 

Many  years  ago,  when  the  writer  of  this  book 
was  a  boy,  he  stood  in  the  dark  chasm  under 
neath  this  bridge  and  looked  up  at  the  great 
bridge  of  rock  above.  He  took  a  stone,  as  all 
other  visitors  do,  and  tried  to  throw  it  so  as  to  hit 
the  arch  of  the  bridge  above.  But  the  stone 
stopped  before  it  got  halfway  up,  and  fell  back, 
resounding  on  the  rocks  below.  Then  he  was 
told  the  old  story,  that  nobody  had  ever  thrown 
to  the  arch  except  George  Washington,  who  had 
thrown  a  silver  dollar  clear  to  the  center  of  the 
bridge. 

There  were  names  scribbled  all  over  the  rocks. 
People  are  always  trying  to  write  their  own  names 
in  such  strange  places  as  this.  Above  all  the  other 
names  were  two  rows  of  mere  scratches.  If  they  had 
ever  been  names,  they  were  too  much  dimmed  to 
be  read  by  a  person  standing  on  the  rocks  below. 
The  lower  of  these  two  high  names,  the  people 


ISO 

said,  was  the  name  of  Washington.  It  was  said 
that  when  he  was  a  young  man,  he  climbed  higher 
than  any  one  else  to  scratch  his  name  on  the  rock. 
And  the  name  above  his,  they  said,  was  the  name 
of  a  young  man  who  had  had  a  strange  adventure 
in  trying  to  write  his  name  above  that  of  the 
father  of  his  country. 

The  story  of  this  young  man's  climbing  up  the 
rocks  used  to  appear  in  the  old  schoolbooks.  It 
was  told  with  so  many  romantic  additions,  that  it 
was  hard  to  believe. 

The  writer  afterwards  learned  that  the  main 
fact  of  the  story  was  true,  and  that  the  hero  of 
the  story  was  still  living  in  Virginia. 

This  foolhardy  boy,  whose  name  was  Pepper, 
climbed  up  the  rock  to  write  his  name  above 
the  rest.  Pepper  climbed  up  by  holding  to  little 
broken  places  in  the  rocks  till  he  had  got  above 
the  names  of  all  the  other  climbers.  He  ventured 
to  climb  till  he  had  passed  the  marks  which  people 
say  are  part  of  Washington's  name.  Here  Pepper 
held  fast  with  one  hand,  while  he  scratched  his 
name  in  the  rock. 

His  companions  were  far  below  him.  He  could 
not  get  down  again.  The  rock  face  was  too 
smooth.  He  could  not  stoop  to  put  his  hands 
down  into  the  cracks  where  his  feet  were.  If  he 


had  tried  to,  he  would  have  lost  his  hold,  and  been 
dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  below. 

There  was  nothing  to  do  now  but  to  climb  out 
from  under  the  bridge,  and  so  up  the  face  of  the 
rock  to  the  top  of  the  gorge.  He  must  do  this  or 
die. 

Painfully  clinging  to  the  rock  with  his  toes  and 
his  fingers,  he  worked  his  way  up.  Sometimes  a 
crevice  in  the  rock  helped  him.  Sometimes  he  had 
to  dig  a  place  with  his  knife  in  order  to  get  a  hold. 
It  seemed  that  each  step  would  be  his  last. 

The  few  people  living  in  the  neighborhood  heard 
of  his  situation,  and  gathered  below  and  above  to 
look  at  him.  They  watched  him  with  breathless 
anxiety.  His  friends  expected  to  see  him  dashed 
to  pieces  at  any  moment. 

As  the  time  wore  on,  he  worked  his  way  up.  He 
also  got  farther  out  from  under  the  bridge.  He 
held  on  like  a  cat.  He  hooked  his  fingers  into 
every  crack  he  could  find.  He  dug  holes  with  his 
dull  knife.  When  he  could  find  a  little  bush  in 
the  rocks,  he  thought  himself  lucky. 

Men  let  down  ropes  to  him,  but  the  ropes  did 
not  reach  him.  They  tied  one  rope  to  another  so 
as  to  reach  farther  down,  but  he  was  too  far  under 
the  bridge.  The  people  hardly  dared  to  speak  or 
to  breathe. 


152 

At  last  he  began  to  get  out  at  the  side  of  the 
bridge  where  he  could  be  seen  from  above.  His 
strength  was  almost  gone.  His  knife  was  too 
much  worn  to  be  of  any  use.  He  could  not  cling 
to  the  rock  much  longer. 

A  rope  with  a  noose  in  it  was  swung  close  to 
him.  He  let  go  his  grip  on  the  rock,  and  threw  his 
arms  and  body  into  the  noose.  In  a  moment  he 
swung  clear  of  the  rock,  and  dangled  in  the  air. 
The  rope  drew  tight  about  his  body  and  held  him. 
Young  Pepper  knew  no  more.  He  was  drawn  up 
over  the  rocks  to  the  summit  quite  unconscious. 

Years  afterward  he  became  a  man  of  distinction 
in  his  State.  But  when  any  of  his  friends  asked 
Colonel  Pepper  about  his  climbing  out  from  under 
the  Natural  Bridge,  he  would  say,  "  Yes ;  I  did  that 
when  I  was  a  foolish  boy,  but  I  don't  like  to  think 
about  it." 

A  FOOT  RACE  FOR  LIFE. 

IN  1803  that  part  of  our  country  which  lies  west 
of  the  Mississippi  was  almost  unknown  to  the  white 
men.  In  that  year  the  President  sent  Captain 
Lewis  and  Captain  Clark  to  see  what  the  country 
was  like.  They  went  up  the  Missouri  River 
and  across  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Then  they 


153 

went  down  the  Columbia  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
It  took  them  more  than  two  years  to  make  the  trip 
there  and  back. 

Lewis  and  Clark  had  about  forty-five  men  with 
them.  One  of  these  men  was  named  Colter.  In 
the  very  heart  of  the  wild  country  he  left  the  party, 
and  set  up  as  a  trapper.  A  trapper  is  a  man 
who  catches  animals  in  traps  in  order  to  get 
their  skins  to  sell.  *  The  Blackfoot  Indians  made 
Colter  a  prisoner.  Colter  knew  a  little  of  their 
language.  He  heard  them  talking  of  how  they 
should  kill  their  prisoner.  They  thought  it  would 
be  fun  to  set  him  up  and  shoot  at  him  with  their 
arrows  until  he  was  dead.  At  this  time  the  Indians 
on  the  western  plains  had  no  guns.  But  the  Indian 
chief  thought  he  knew  a  better  way.  He  laid  hold 
of  Colter's  shoulder,  and  said, — 

"  Can  you  run  fast  ?  " 

Colter  could  run  very  swiftly,  but  he  pretended 
to  the  chief  that  he  was  a  bad  runner.  So  they 
took  him  out  on  the  prairie  about  four  hundred 
yards  away  from  the  Indians.  There  he  was  turned 
loose,  and  told  to  run. 

The  whole  band  of  Indians  ran  after  him,  yelling 
like  wild  beasts.  Colter  did  not  look  back.  He 
had  to  run  through  thorns  that  hurt  his  bare  feet. 
But  he  was  running  for  his  life.  Six  miles  away 


154 


there  was  a  river.     If  he  could  get  to  that,  he  might 
escape. 

He  almost  flew  over  the  ground.     At  first  he  did 
not  turn  his  head  round.     When  he  had  run  about 
three  miles,  he  glanced  back.     Most  of  the  Indians 
^  had  lost  ground.  The 

best  runners  were 
ahead  of  the  others. 
One  Indian,  swifter 
than  all  the  rest,  was 
only  about  a  hundred 
yards  behind  him. 
This  man  had  a  spear 
i  in  his  hand  to  kill 
Colter  as  soon  as 
he  should  be  near 
enough. 

*~  Poor  Colter  now  ran 

harder  than  ever  to  get  away 
from  this  Indian.  At  last  he  was 
only  about  a  mile  from  the  river.  He  looked  back, 
and  saw  the  swift  Indian  only  twenty  yards  away, 
with  his  spear  ready  to  throw. 

It  was  of  no  use  for  Colter  to  keep  on  running. 
He  turned  round  and  faced  the  swift  runner,  who 
was  about  to  throw  his  spear.  Colter  spread  his 
arms  wide,  and  stood  stilL 


155 

The  Indian  was  surprised  at  this.  He  tried  to 
stop  running,  so  as  to  kill  the  white  man  with  his 
spear.  But  he  had  already  run  himself  nearly  to 
death,  and,  when  he  tried  to  stop  quickly,  he  lost  his 
balance,  and  fell  forward  to  the  ground.  His  lance 
stuck  in  the  earth,  and  broke  in  two. 

Colter  quickly  pulled  the  pointed  end  of  the 
spear  out  of  the  ground  and  killed  the  fallen  Indian. 
Then  he  turned  and  ran  on  toward  the  river. 

The  other  Indians  were  coming  swiftly  behind; 
but,  as  they  passed  the  place  where  the  first  one 
lay  dead,  each  of  them  stopped  a  moment  to  howl 
over  him,  after  their  custom.  This  gave  Colter  a 
little  more  time.  He  reached  a  patch  of  woods 
near  the  river.  He  ran  through  this  to  the  river, 
and  jumped  in.  He  swam  toward  a  little  island. 

Logs  and  brush  had  floated  down  the  river,  and 
lodged  .across  the  island.  This  driftwood  had 
formed  a  great  raft.  Colter  dived  under  this 
raft.  He  swam  to  a  place  where  he  could  push 
his  head  up  to  get  air,  and  still  be  hidden  by  the 
brush. 

The  Indians  were  already  yelling  on  the  bank  of 
the  river.  A  moment  later  they  were  swimming 
toward  the  island.  When  they  reached  the  drift 
pile,  they  ran  this  way  and  that.  They  looked  into 
all  the  cracks  and  tried  to  find  the  white  man.  They 


i  S6 

ran  right  over  his  hiding  place.     Colter  thought 
they  would  surely  find  him. 

But  after  a  long  time  they  went  away.  Colter 
thought  they  would  set  fire  to  the  raft  of  driftwood, 
but  they  did  not  think  of  that.  Perhaps  they 
thought  that  Colter  had  been  drowned. 

He  lay  still  under  the  raft  till  night  came.  Then 
he  swam  down  the  stream  a  long  distance,  left 
the  stream,  and  went  far  out  on  the  prairie.  Here 
he  felt  himself  safe  from  his  enemies. 

But  he  had  no  clothes  and  no  food.  He  had  no 
gun  to  shoot  animals  with.  It  was  several  days 
journey  to  the  nearest  place  where  there  were 
white  men,  at  a  trading  house. 

Colter  had  nothing  to  eat  but  roots.  The  sun 
burned  his  skin  in  the  daytime.  He  shivered  with 
out  a  covering  at  night.  The  thorns  hurt  his  feet 
when  he  walked,  but  he  found  his  way  to  the  trading 
house  at  last. 

He  used  to  tell  of  wonderful  things  that  he  saw 
while  traveling  to  the  trading  house  after  he  got 
away  from  the  Indians.  He  saw  springs  that  were 
boiling  hot  and  steaming.  He  saw  fountains  that 
would  sometimes  spout  hot  water  into  the  air  for 
hundreds  of  feet. 

These  and  many  other  wonderful  things  that  he 
saw  at  this  time  he  used  to  tell  about.  But  nobody 


157 


believed  his  stories.  Nobody 
had  ever  seen  anything  of  the 
kind  in  this  country.  When 
Colter  would  tell  of  these 
things,  those  who  heard  him 
thought  that  he  was  making 
up  stories,  or  that  he  had  been 
out  of  his  head  while  travel 
ing  and  had  thought  he  saw 
such  wonders. 

But  after  many  long  years 
the  wonderful  place  which  we 
call  Yellowstone  Park  was 
found,  and  in  it  were  boiling 
and  spouting  springs.  People 
knew  then  that  Colter  had 
been  telling  the  truth,  and  that 
he  had  traveled  through  the 
Yellowstone  country. 


A  Geyser. 


I58 


LORETTO   AND    HIS   WIFE. 

IN  old  times  white  men  had  not  made  settle 
ments  in  the  country  near  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Tribes  of  Indians  fought  one  another  over  that 
whole  region.  A  few  bold  white  men,  fond  of 
wild  life,  lived  there,  in  order  to  hunt  and  trap 
the  animals  that  bear  furs.  But  they  themselves 
were  always  in  danger  of  being  hunted  by  the 
Indians. 

The  Indians  called  Blackfeet  and  those  called 
Crows  were  at  war.  They  stole  each  other's 
horses  at  every  chance,  and  the  Indians  of  each 
tribe  were  always  seeking  to  kill  those  of  the  other. 

In  one  of  their  attacks  on  the  Blackfeet,  the 
Crows  carried  off  an  Indian  girl.  One  of  the 
bold  trappers  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  a 
Mexican.  His  name  was  Loretto.  He  visited  a 
Crow  village  once,  and  saw  this  girl.  He  fell  in 
love  with  the  captive,  and  bought  her  from  the 
Crows.  Whether  he  paid  for  her  in  horses  or  in 
beaver  skins,  I  do  not  know.  But  from  a  slave  of 
the  enemies  of  her  tribe  she  was  changed  to  the 
wife  of  a  white  man  who  loved  her. 

Loretto  was  hired  to  trap  for  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  Fur  Company.  This  company  bought  furs 


159 

from  the  Indians  of  the  Far  West.  They  sent 
large  parties  to  the  mountains  every  year  with 
guns,  knives,  hatchets,  blankets,  and  other  things, 
which  they  traded  to  the  Indians  for  skins. 

Loretto  was  marching  over  the  plains  with  a 
party  of  trappers  belonging  to  this  company.  He 
had  his  young  Blackfoot  wife  and  his  baby  with 
him.  The  white  men  were  much  afraid  of  the 
Blackfoot  Indians.  The  company  that  Loretto 
was  with  examined  every  ravine  that  they  passed, 
for  fear  that  the  Indians  would  surprise  them. 

One  day  a  band  of  the  Blackfoot  tribe  appeared 
on  the  prairie,  but  they  kept  near  some  rocks  to 
which  they  could  easily  retire.  They  made  signs  of 
friendship.  The  trappers  also  made  friendly  signs. 
Then  the  Blackfeet  sent  out  a  party  with  a  pipe 
of  peace.  The  white  men  sent  out  a  party  to  meet 
them.  They  smoked  the  pipe  in  the  open  ground 
between  the  two  companies.  This  is  the  Indian 
way  of  making  peace. 

Of  course,  Loretto's  wife  was  much  interested  in 
the  Blackfeet.  They  were  her  own  people.  It  had 
been  a  long  time  since  she  had  seen  one  of  them. 
She  looked  closely  at  the  company  smoking  to 
gether,  and  saw  that  one  of  them  was  her  brother. 
She  handed  the  child  to  Loretto.  Then  she  rushed 
out  to  the  place  where  the  treaty  was  going  on,  and 


1 6o 


her  brother  threw  his  arms  about  her  with  the 
greatest  affection. 

But  just  at  that  moment,  Bridger,  the  captain  of 
the  white  men,  rode  out  where  the  pipe  was  being 
smoked.  He  had  his  rifle  across  the  pommel  of 
his  saddle.  The  chief  of  the  Blackfeet  came  up  to 
shake  hands  with  him.  Bridger  was  afraid  the 
chief  meant  to  hurt  him,  so  he  slyly  cocked  his 
rifle.  The  chief  heard  the  click,  and  seized  the 
gun.  He  bent  it  downwards,  and  the  gun  went  off, 
shooting  a  bullet  into  the  ground.  The  chief  took 
the  gun  and  knocked  Bridger  off  his  horse  with  it. 
Then  he  mounted  Bridger's  horse  and  galloped 
back  to  his  Indians.  Indians  and  white  men  now 
got  behind  the  rocks  and  trees  which  were  not  far 
away,  and  began  to  shoot  at  each  other. 

Loretto's  wife  was  carried  away  by  her  tribe.  In 
vain  she  struggled  to  get  free,  and  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  go  back  to  her  husband  and  child.  The 
Indians  would  not  let  her  go. 

Loretto  saw  her  struggles,  and  heard  her  cries. 
He  took  his  child,  and  ran  to  the  Indians  with  it. 
Hfe  handed  the  child  to  its  mother.  The  Indian 
bullets  and  arrows  were  flying  all  about  him. 

The  chief  saw  him  carry  the  child  across  the 
open  ground,  and  his  heart  was  touched.  It  was  a 
noble  action. 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE —  II 


162 

He  said  to  Loretto,  "  You  are  crazy  to  go  into 
such  danger,  but  go  back  in  peace  ;  you  shall  not 
be  hurt." 

Loretto  begged  to  be  allowed  to  take  his  wife 
with  him,  but  her  brother  would  not  let  her  go,  and 
the  chief  now  began  to  look  angry. 

"  The  girl  belongs  to  her  tribe,"  he  said.  "  She 
shall  not  go  back." 

Loretto  wanted  to  stay  with  his  wife,  but  she 
begged  him  to  go  back,  lest  he  should  be  killed 
on  the  spot.  At  last  he  left  her,  and  went  back 
to  the  white  men. 

Night  came  on,  and  the  Indians  drew  off.  Not 
much  harm  had  been  done  to  anybody. 

Loretto  could  not  be  happy  without  his  wife. 
A  few  months  later,  he  settled  his  accounts  with 
the  Fur  Company  and  went  away.  He  went 
boldly  into  one  of  the  villages  of  the  savage 
Blackfeet.  Here  he  found  his  wife,  and  staid 
with  her. 

When  the  white  men  made  peace  with  the 
Blackfeet,  they  set  up  a  trading  house  among 
them.  Loretto  joined  the  traders.  They  wejfe 
glad  to  have  him,  because  he  could  speak  the 
language  of  the  tribe. 


163 


A   BLACKFOOT   STORY. 

HERE  is  a  story  the  Indians  tell.  It  is  one  of  the 
tales  with  which  they  amuse  themselves  in  long 
evenings.  It  may  be  true.  At  least,  the  Indians 
tell  it  for  true. 

An  Indian  chief  of  the  tribe  called  Blackfoot,  or 
Blackfeet,  went  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  a 
war  party.  He  killed  some  of  the  enemies  of  his 
tribe,  and  then  started  back.  For  fear  their  enemies 
would  follow  their  tracks,  the  party  did  not  take  the 
usual  path.  They  went  up  over  the  wildest  part  of 
the  mountain.  But  when  it  came  to  going  down 
on  the  other  side,  the  Indians  had  a  hard  time. 

They  had  to  clamber  over  great  rocks  and  down 
the  sides  of  cliffs.  Drifts  of  snow  blocked  their 
way  in  places.  At  last  they  had  to  stop.  They 
stood  on  the  edge  of  a  cliff.  Below  this  cliff  was 
a  ridge  or  shelf  of  rock.  By  tying  themselves 
together,  and  so  helping  one  another  down,  they 
got  to  this  shelf.  Below  this  they  found  still 
another  cliff.  It  was  harder  to  get  down  to  this. 

But  when  they  had  got  down  as  far  as  this  ledge, 
they  were  in  a  worse  plight  than  ever.  They  stood 
on  the  brink  of  a  great  cliff.  The  rocks  were  too 
steep  for  them  to  get  down.  It  was  hundreds  of 
feet  to  the  bottom. 


104 

They  tried  to  get  back  up  the  mountain,  but  that 
they  could  not  do.  Then  they  sat  down  and  looked 
over  the  brink  of  the  cliff.  There  was  no  chance 
for  them  to  get  down  alive.  They  must  stay  there 
and  starve. 

The  Indians  filled  their  pipes  with  kinnikinnick, 
or  willow  bark,  and  smoked.  Then  they  knocked 
the  ashes  out  of  their  pipes,  and  lay  down  to  sleep. 

But  the  chief  did  not  sleep.  He  could  not  think 
of  any  way  of  getting  out  of  the  trouble.  When 
morning  came,  they  all  went  and  looked  over  the 
cliff  once  more.  Then  they  smoked  again.  After 
sitting  silent  for  some  time,  the  chief  laid  down  his 
pipe  quietly,  got  to  his  feet,  and  went  to  painting 
his  face  as  if  he  were  getting  ready  for  a  feast.  He 
arranged  his  dress  with  the  greatest  care.  Then 
he  made  a  little  speech. 

"  It  is  of  no  use  to  stay  here  and  die,"  he  said. 
"  The  Great  Spirit  is  not  willing  that  we  should  get 
away.  Let  us  die  bravely." 

He  added  other  remarks  of  the  same  kind.  Then 
he  sang  his  death  song.  When  this  was  finished, 
he  gave  a  shout,  and  leaped  over  the  cliff. 

When  the  chief  had  gone,  the  others  sat  down 
and  smoked  again  in  silence.  After  a  long  time,  a 
weather-beaten  old  Indian  got  up  and  walked  to 
the  eflge  of  the  cliff. 


i6S 


"  See,"  he  said,  "  there  is  the  soul  of  our  chief, 
waiting  for  us  to  go  with  him  to  the  land  of  spirits." 

The  others  looked  over,  and  saw  the  form  of  a 
man  far  below,  waving  the  bough  of  a  tree. 

The  old  warrior 
now  threw  off  his 
blanket  and  sang  his 
death  song.  Then 
he  leaped  off.  The 
others  again  looked 
over,  and  this  time 
they  saw  two  forms 
beckoning  to  them 
from  below. 

One  after  another 
the  Indians  jumped, 
until  there  were  left 
but  two  young  men 
who  were  little  more 
than  boys.  These  two 

boys  were  nephews  of  the  chief.     They  had  never 
been  in  a  war  party. 

The  elder  of  the  two  showed  his  young  brother 
the  ghosts  of  the  whole  party  standing  below.  He 
told  his -brother  he  must  jump  off,  but  the  frightened 
boy  begged  to  be  allowed  to  stay  and  die  on  the 
bare  rock. 


i66 

The  elder  seized  him,  and,  after  a  struggle,  pushed 
him  over.  Then  he  quietly  gathered  up  all  the 
blankets  and  guns,  and  threw  them  off.  He 
thought  the  souls  of  his  friends  would  need  these 
things  in  their  journey  to  the  land  of  spirits. 

When  this  was  done,  the  young  man  sang  his 
own  death  song  and  jumped  off.  Falling  swiftly  as 
an  arrow,  feet  downward,  he  struck  a  great  snow 
drift  at  the  bottom.  It  received  him  like  an  im 
mense  feather  bed.  He  sank  in  so  far  that  he  had 
hard  work  to  get  out.  When  he  had  succeeded,  he 
found  all  of  his  party,  not  spirits,  as  he  had  expected, 
but  living  men,  safe  and 'sound.  The  snow  had 
saved  them  from  injury. 

HOW  FREMONT  CROSSED  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

IT  is  many  years  now  since  Captain  Fremont 
made  his  great  journey  over  plains  and  mountains 
to  California.  At  that  time  California  belonged  to 
Mexico.  The  wild  country  east  of  it  belonged 
to  the  United  States.  There  were  hardly  any 
roads  and  no  railroads  in  the  country  west  of  the 
Missouri  River.  Fremont  was  sent  out  to  explore 
that  country;  that  is,  he  was  sent  to  find  out  what 
kind  of  a  country  it  was.  The  white  people  knew 
very  little  about  it. 


167 

Fremont  had  a  large  party  of  men  with  many 
horses.  After  months  of  travel  he  found  himself 
near  the  great  Californian  mountains.  These 
mountains  are  called  the  Sierra  Nevada,  or  "  Snowy 
Range." 

Here  some  Indians  came  to  see  him.  He  had 
a  talk  with  them  by  signs,  for  he  could  not  speak 
their  language.  They  told  him  he  could  cross  the 
mountains  in  summer.  They  said  it  was  "six 
sleeps  "  to  the  place  where  the  white  men  lived 
over  the  mountains.  They  meant  that  a  man 
would  have  to  pass  six  nights  on  the  road  in  going 
there.  But  it  was  now  winter,  and  they  told  him 
that  no  man  could  cross  in  the  winter.  They  held 
their  hands  above  their  heads  to  show  him  that 
the  snow  was  deeper  than  a  man  is  tall. 

But  Fremont  told  the  Indians  that  the  horses  of 
the  white  men  were  strong,  and  that  he  would  go 
over  the  mountains.  He  showed  them  some  bright- 
colored  cloths,  which  he  said  he  would  give  to  any 
Indian  who  would  go  along  as  a  guide.  The 
Indians  called  in  a  young  man  who  said  he  had  been 
over  the  mountains  and  had  seen  the  white  people 
on  the  other  side.  He  agreed  to  go  with  Fremont. 
Fremont  now  talked  to  his  men,  and  told  them 
there  was  a  beautiful  valley  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountains, — the  valley  of  the  Sacramento.  He  told 


1 68 

them  that  Captain  Sutter  had  moved  to  this  valley 
from  Missouri,  and  had  become  a  rich  man.  It 
was  but  seventy  miles  to  Sutter's  Fort.  The  men 
agreed  to  try  to  cross  the  mountains. 

They  had  but  little  left  to  eat.  They  killed  a 
dog  and  ate  it  that  very  evening.  They  would  not 
have  much  chance  to  get  food  in  crossing  the 
mountains,  but  they  started  in  bravely  the  next 
morning.  They  did  not  talk  much.  They  knew 
that  it  was  very  dangerous  to  cross  the  mountains 
in  February. 

For  days  and  days  they  fought  their  way  through 
the  snow,  which  got  deeper  and  deeper  as  they 
went  higher  up  into  the  mountains.  Traveling 
grew  harder  and  harder.  The  horses  had  nothing 
to  eat  but  what  could  be  found  in  little  patches  of 
grass  where  the  wind  had  blown  the  snow  off  the 
ground.  Whenever  a  horse  or  mule  grew  too 
weak  to  travel,  the  men  killed  it  and  ate  it. 

One  day  an  old  Indian  came  to  see  them.  He 
told  them  they  must  not  go  on.  He  said,  "  Rock 
upon  rock,  rock  upon  rock,  snow  upon  snow,  snow 
upon  snow,  and  even  if  you  get  over  the  snow,  you 
will  not  be  able  to  get  down  the  mountain  on  the 
other  side." 

He  made  signs  to  show  them  that  the  walls  of 
rock  were  straight  up  and  down,  and  that  the  horses 


169 

would  slip  off.  This  frightened  the  Indians  in 
Fremont's  company,  and  one  Indian  covered  up 
his  head  and  moaned  while  the  old  man  was 
talking. 

The  young  Indian  guide  was  afraid  to  go  on. 
He  ran  away  the  next  day,  taking  all  the  pretty 
things  that  Fremont  had  given  him,  and  a  blanket 
that  Fremont  had  lent  him  to  keep  warm. 

The  men  now  made  snowshoes,  so  that  they 
could  walk  over  the  snow  without  sinking  in. 
Sleds  were  made -to  draw  the  baggage  on,  for  the 
horses  were  getting  too  weak  to  carry  anything. 
They  found  the  snow  twenty  feet  deep  in  some 
places.  The  men  had  to  make  great  mauls  or 
pounders  to  beat  down  the  snow,  to  make  a  hard 
road  on  which  the  animals  could  travel.  Fremont's 
men  now  grew  very  hungry,  for  they  had  little  to 
eat  except  when  they  killed  a  starving  mule  or 
a  dog. 

At  last  the  whole  party  reached  the  top  of  the 
mountains  at  a  place  where  they  were  nine  thou 
sand  feet  high.  They  had  been  three  weeks  in 
getting  to  the  top.  They  had  yet  the  hard  task  of 
getting  down  on  the  other  side.  But  they  could 
see  the  beautiful  country  of  California  below  them. 
They  began  to  work  their  way  down  over  the  snow 
and  rocks. 


After  some  days  Fremont  took  a  party  of  eight 
men,  and  went  on  to  get  provisions  for  the  rest 
But  for  a  long  distance  he  found  no  grass,  and  his 
animals  began  to  give  out.  One  of  his  men  grew 
so  hungry  and  tired  that  he  became  insane  for  a 
while.  Another  got  lost  from  the-  party,  and  found 
them  only  after  several  days.  He  told  the  rest  that 
he  had  suffered  so  much  from  hunger  that  he  ate 
small  toads,  and  even  let  the  large  ants  creep  upon 
his  hands  so  that  he  could  eat  them. 

One  day  Fremont  saw  some  Indian  huts.  The 
Indians  ran  away  when  they  saw  the  white  men 
coming.  Fremont  found  near  these  huts  some 
great  baskets  as  big  as  hogsheads  filled  with 
acorns.  Inside  the  huts  he  found  smaller  baskets 
with  roasted  acorns  in  them.  The  men  took  about 
half  a  bushel  of  these  roasted  acorns,  and  left  a 
shirt,  some  handkerchiefs,  and  some  trinkets,  to 
pay  for  them. 

At  last  they  came  to  a  place  where  there  were 
paths,  and  tracks  of  cattle.  The  horses,  having 
found  grass  to  eat,  grew  strong  enough  for  the 
men  to  ride  them.  One  day  Fremont  found  some 
Indians,  one  of  whom  could  speak  Spanish. 

The  Indian  said,  "  I  am  a  herdsman,  and  work 
for  Captain  Sutter." 

"Where  does  he  live?" 


"  Just  over  the  hill.  I  will  show  you." 
In  a  short  time  Fremont  and  his  white  men 
were  at  the  house  of  Sutter.  But  Captain  Fre 
mont  rested  only  one  night.  The  next  morning 
he  started  back  with  food  for  his  starving  men, 
who  were  coming  on  behind.  The  second  day 
after  he  left  Sutter's  he  met  his  men. 

They  were  a  sad  sight.  They  were  all  on  foot. 
Each  man  was  leading  a  horse  as  weak  and  lean 
as  he  was  himself.  Many  of  the  horses  had  fallen 
off  the  rocks,  and  had  been  killed.  Only  half  of 
the  miiles  and  horses  that  had  started  over  the 
mountains  had  lived  to  get  across.  As  soon  as 
Fremont  met  his  men,  he  told  them  to  camp.  He 
fed  the  poor  starving  fellows  beef  and  bread  and 
fresh  salmon.  The  next  day  they  all  reached  the 
beautiful  Sacramento  Riven  where  the  city  of 
Sacramento  now  stands. 


FINDING  GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA. 

CALIFORNIA  once  belonged  to  Mexico.  Then 
there  was  a  war  between  this  country  and  Mexico. 
This  is  what  we  call  the  Mexican  War.  During  that 
war  the  United  States  took  California  away  from 
Mexico.  It  is  now  one  of  the  richest  and  most 


172 

beautiful  States  in  the  Union.  In  the  old  days, 
when  California  belonged  to  Mexico,  it  was  a 
quiet  country.  Nearly  all  the  white  people  spoke 
Spanish,  which  is  the  language  of  Mexico.  They 
lived  mostly  by  raising  cattle.  In  those  days  people 
did  not  know  that  there  was  gold  in  California.  A 
little  gold  had  been  found  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  State,  but  nobody  expected  to  find  valuable 
gold  mines.  A  few  people  from  the  United  States 
had  settled  in  the  country.  They  also  raised  cattle. 

Some  time  after  the  United  States  had  taken 
California,  peace  was  made  with  Mexico.  California 
then  became  a  part  of  our  country.  About  the 
time  that  this  peace  was  made,  something  happened 
which  made  a  great  excitement  all  over  the  country. 
It  changed  the  history  of  our  country,  and  changed 
the  business  of  the  whole  world.  Here  is  the  story 
of  it :  - 

A  man  named  Sutter  had  moved  from  Missouri 
to  California.  He  built  a  house  which  was  called 
Sutter's  Fort.  It  was  where  the  city  of  Sacramento 
now  stands.  Sutter  had  many  horses  and  oxen, 
and  he  owned  thousands  of  acres  of  land.  He 
traded  with  the  Indians,  and  carried  on  other  kinds 
of  business. 

But  everything  was  done  in  the  slow  Mexican 
way.  When  he  wanted  boards,  he  sent  men  to  saw 


173 

them  out  by  hand.  It  took  two  men  a  whole  day 
to  saw  up  a  log  so  as  to  make  a  dozen  boards. 
There  was  no  sawmill  in  all  California. 

When  Sutter  wanted  to  grind  flour  or  meal,  this 
also  was  done  in  the  Mexican  way.  A  large  stone 
roller  was  run  over  a  flat  stone.  But  at  last  Sutter 
thought  he  would  have  a  grinding  mill  of  the  Ameri 
can  sort.  To  build  this,  he  needed  boards.  He 
thought  he  would  first  build  a  sawmill.  Then  he 
could  get  boards  quickly  for  his  grinding  mill,  and 
have  lumber  to  use  for  other  things. 

Sutter  sent  a  man  named  Marshall  to  build  his 
sawmill.  It  was  to  be  built  forty  miles  away  from 
Sutter's  Fort.  The  mill  had  to  be  where  there  were 
trees  to  saw. 

Marshall  was  a  very  good  carpenter,  who  could 
build  almost  anything.  He  had  some  men  working 
with  him.  After  some  months  they  got  the  mill 
done.  This  mill  was  built  to  run  by  water. 

But  when  he  started  it,  the  mill  did  not  run  well. 
Marshall  saw  that  he  must  dig  a  ditch  below  the 
great  water  wheel,  to  carry  off  the  water.  He 
hired  wild  Indians  to  dig  the  ditch. 

When  the  Indians  had  partly  dug  this  ditch, 
Marshall  went  out  one  January  morning  to  look 
at  it.  The  clear  water  was  running  through  the 
ditch.  It  had  washed  away  the  sand,  leaving  the 


174 

pebbles  bare.  At  the  bottom  of  the  water  Marshall 
saw  something  yellow.  It  looked  like  brass.  He 
put  his  hand  down  into  the  water  and  took  up  this 
bright,  yellow  thing.  It  was  about  the  size  and 
shape  of  a  small  pea.  Then  he  looked,  and  found 
another  pretty  little  yellow  bead  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ditch. 

Marshall  trembled  all  over.  It  might  be  gold. 
But  he  remembered  that  there  is  another  yellow 
substance  that  looks  like  gold.  It  is  called  "  fool's 
gold."  He  was  afraid  he  had  only  found  fool's 
gold. 

Marshall  knew  that  if  it  was  gold  it  would  not 
break  easily.  He  laid  one  of  the  pieces  on  a  stone; 
then  he  took  another  stone  and  hammered  it.  It 
was  soft,  and  did  not  break.  If  it  had  broken  to 
pieces,  Marshall  would  have  known  that  it  was 
not  gold. 

In  a  few  days  the  men  had  dug  up  about  three 
ounces  of  the  yellow  stuff.  They  had  no  means  of 
making  sure  it  was  gold. 

Then  Marshall  got  on  a  horse  and  set  out  for 
Sutter's  Fort,  carrying  the  yellow  metal  with  him. 
He  traveled  as  fast  as  the  rough  road  would  let 
him.  He  rode  up  to  Sutter's  in  the  evening,  all 
spattered  with  mud. 

He  told  Captain  Sutter  that  he  wished  to  see  him 


175 


Weighing  the  First  Gold. 

alone.  Marshall's  eyes  looked  wild,  and  Sutler  was 
afraid  that  he  was  crazy.  But  he  went  to  a  room 
with  him.  Then  Marshall  wanted  the  door  locked. 
Sutter  could  not  think  what  was  the  matter  with 
the  man. 

When  he  was  sure  that  nobody  else  would  come 
in,  Marshall  poured  out  in  a  heap  on  the  table  the 
little  yellow  beads  that  he  had  brought. 

Sutter  thought  it  was  gold,  but  the  men  did  not 
know  how  to  tell  whether  it  was  pure  or  not.  At 


]ast  they  hunted  up  a  book  that  told  how  heavy 
gold  is.  Then  they  got  a  pair  of  scales  and 
weighed  the  gold,  putting  silver  dollars  in  the 
other  end  of  the  scales  for  weights.  Then  they 
held  one  end  of  the  scales  under  water  and 
weighed  the  gold.  By  finding  how  much  lighter 
it  was  in  the  water  than  out  of  the  water,  they 
found  that  it  was  pure  gold. 

All  the  men  at  the  mill  promised  to  keep  the 
secret.  They  were  all  digging  up  gold  when  not 
working  in  the  mill.  As  soon  as  the  mill  should 
be  done,  they  were  going  to  wash  gold. 

But  the  secret  could  not  be  kept.  A  teamster 
who  came  to  the  mill  was  told  about  it.  He  got 
a  few  grains  of  the  precious  gold. 

When  the  teamster  got  back  to  Sutter's  Fort 
he  went  to  a  store  to  buy  a  bottle  of  whisky, 
but  he  had  no  money.  The  storekeeper  would 
not  sell  to  him  without  money.  The  teamster 
then  took  out  some  grains  of  gold.  The  store 
keeper  was  surprised.  He  let  the  man  have  what 
he  wanted.  The  teamster  would  not  tell  where  he 
got  the  gold.  But  after  he  had  taken  two  or 
three  drinks  of  the  whisky,  he  was  not  able  to 
keep  his  secret.  He  soon  told  all  he  knew  about 
the  finding  of  gold  at  Sutter's  Mill. 

The  news  spread   like  fire  in  dry  grass.     Men 


rushed  to  the  mill  in  the  mountains  to  find  gold. 
Gold  was  also  found  at  other  places.  Merchants 
in  the  towns  of  California  left  their  stores.  Me 
chanics  laid  down  their  tools,  and  farmers  left 
their  fields,  to  dig  gold.  Some  got  rich  in  a  few 
weeks.  Others  were  not  so  lucky. 

Soon  the  news  went  across  the  continent. 
It  traveled  also  to  other  countries.  More  than 
one  hundred  thousand  men  went  to  California 
the  first  year  after  gold  was  found,  and  still  more 
poured  in  the  next  year.  Thousands  of  men  went 
through  the  Indian  country  with  wagons.  Of 
course,  there  were  no  railroads  to  the  west  in 
that  day. 

Millions  and  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  gold 
was  dug.  In  a  short  time  California  became 
a  rich  State.  Railroads  were  built  across  the 
country.  Ships  sailed  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  to 
carry  on  the  trade  of  this  great  State.  Every 
nation  of  the  earth  had  gold  from  California. 

And  it  all  started  from  one  little,  round,  yellow 
bead  of  gold,  that  happened  to  lie  shining  at  the 
bottom  of  a  ditch,  on  a  cold  morning  not  so  very 
long  ago. 


EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE —  12 


DESCENDING  THE  GRAND  CANYON. 

THE  Colorado  River  is  the  strangest  river  in  the 
United  States.  For  hundreds  of  miles  it  runs 
through  channels  in  solid  rocks.  These  channels 
are  often  thousands  of  feet  deep.  In  some  places 
the  rocks  rise  straight  up  like  walls.  These  walls 
are  quite  bare.  There  are  no  trees  and  no  grass  on 
them.  There  is  not  even  any  moss  to  be  seen. 
The  bare  rocks  are  of  many  colors.  When  the  sun 
light  strikes  upon  them,  they  are  as  beautiful  as 
flowers  and  as  gorgeous  as  the  clouds,  we  are  told. 

These  deep  cuts,  through  which  the  river  runs, 
are  called  canyons.  The  longest  of  them  is  called 
the  Grand  Canyon  (see  frontispiece).  It  is  about 
two  hundred  miles  long.  In  some  places  it  is  more 
than  a  mile  and  a  quarter  deep.  The  river  runs 
at  the  bottom  of  this  deep  ravine.  It  rushes  over 
rapids,  and  plunges  over  falls.  Sometimes  there 
is  a  little  strip  of  rock  like  a  shelf  at  the  edge  of 
the  river.  In  many  places  the  walls  of  rock  rise 
straight  from  the  water,  and  there  is  no  place  where 
a  man  can  put  his  feet. 

Major  Powell  resolved  to  go  through  this  canyon 
in  boats.  No  boat  had  ever  gone  down  this  deep, 
dark  channel.  Two  men,  running  away  from 


1/9 

Indians,  had  once  gone  into  it  on  a  raft.  The  raft 
was  dashed  over  rapids  and  waterfalls.  The  pro 
visions  of  the  men  were  washed  overboard.  One  of 
the  men  was  drowned,  and  the  other  at  last  floated 
out  at  the  lower  end  of  the  canyon  more  dead  than 
alive. 

Being  a  man  of  science,  Major  Powell  wanted  to 
find  out  about  the  Grand  Canyon.  He  knew  that 
it  would  be  a  fearful  journey.  He  and  his  men 
might  all  be  lost,  but  they  made  up  their  minds  to 
try  to  go  through. 

They  did  not  know  how  long  the  canyon  was. 
They  had  already  passed  through  the  other  canyons 
above,  and  had  suffered  many  hardships.  They 
knew  how  wild  and  dangerous  such  places  are,  but 
whether  they  could  ever  get  through  this  great  and 
awful  gorge  they  did  not  know.  But  they  got  into 
their  boats,  and  started  down  the  long  passage. 
The  sun  shines  down  into  this  narrow  gorge  only 
for  a  short  time  each  day.  Most  of  the  way  the 
walls  are  too  steep  to  climb. 

The  boats  shot  swiftly  down  the  river.  Some 
times  they  ran  over  wild  rapids.  The  men  had 
many  narrow  escapes.  The  boats  bumped  against 
the  rocks,  and  some  of  the  oars  were  broken.  New 
oars  had  to  be  made,  and,  to  do  this,  the  men  had 
to  find  logs  that  had  drifted  down  the  river.  Some- 


1 8o 

times  Major  Powell  and  his  men  had  to  have  pitch 
to  stop  the  leaks  in  their  boats.  To  get  this,  they 
had  to  climb  up  thousands  of  feet  of  rock  to  where 
some  little  pine  trees  grew. 

They  could  not  see  far  ahead,  because  the  river 
was  not  straight,  and  the  side  walls  of  the  narrow 
gorge  shut  out  the  view.  Sometimes  they  would 
hear  a  loud  roaring  of  water  ahead.  Then  they 
knew  they  were  coming  to  a  waterfall.  If  there 
was  any  room  to  walk,  they  would  carry  and  drag 
their  boat  round  the  falls.  If  there  was  no  shelf  or 
shore  on  which  to  carry  the  boats,  they  had  to  let 
rhem  float  down  over  the  falls,  the  men  on  the  rocks 
above  holding  ropes  tied  to  the  boats.  Sometimes 
they  could  not  even  do  this.  Then  they  had  to  get 
into  the  boats  and  plunge  over  the  falls  among  the 
rocks.  They  had  hard  work  to  keep  off  the  rocks. 

More  than  once  a  boat  got  full  of  water.  The 
men  had  to  let  the  boat  run  till  they  got  to  a  wider 
place,  where  they  could  get  the  water  out. 

Their  flour  was  spoiled  by  getting  wet.  Their 
bacon  became  bad.  Much  of  their  food  was  lost 
overboard.  They  usually  slept  out  on  the  rocks 
by  the  side  of  the  river.  Sometimes  they  slept  in 
caves.  Once  they  sat  up  all  night  on  a  shelf  of  rock 
in  a  pouring  rain. 

All  day  they  had  to  work,  to  save  their  lives.     At 


night  they  had  to  sleep  on  cold  rocks  without 
blankets  enough  to  keep  them  warm.  The  great 
rock  walls  on  either  side  of  them  made  an  awful 
prison.  They  could  not  tell  how  far  they  had  gone, 
nor  did  they  know  just  how  far  they  had  to  go. 

At  last  the  food  ran  short.  The  men  were  tired 
of  musty  flour.  They  had  lost  their  baking  powder, 
and  they  had  to  make  heavy  bread.  They  thought 
that  even  this  bad  food  would  give  out  before  they 
could  reach  the  end  of  the  canyon. 

But  one  day  they  came  to  a  little  patch  of  earth 
by  the  side  of  the  river.  On  this  some  corn  was 
growing.  The  Indians  living  on  the  bare  rocks 
above  had  come  down  by  some  steep  path  to  plant 
this  little  cornfield.  The  corn  was  not  yet  large 
enough  to  eat.  But  among  the  corn  grew  some 
green  squashes. 

Major  Powell's  men  were  too  near  starving  not 
to  take  anything  they  could  find  to  eat.  They 
took  some  of  the  green  squashes  and  put  them 
into  their  boats.  Then  they  ran  on  down  the  can 
yon,  out  of  the  reach  of  any  Indians.  Here  they 
stewed  some  of  the  squashes,  and  ate  them. 

When  they  had  been  fifteen  days  in  this  great 
canyon,  they  had  but  a  little  flour  and  some  dried 
apples  left.  They  had  now  come  to  a  place  where 
one  could  climb  up  out  of  the  gorge.  But  they 


182 

did  not  know  how  far  they  were  from  the  end. 
Three  of  the  men  here  resolved  to  leave  the 
party.  They  did  not  believe  that  there  was  any 
hope  of  running  out  of  the  canyon  in  the  boats 
alive.  They  took  their  share  of  the  food  and 
some  guns,  and  bade  the  others  good-by.  They 
climbed  up  out  of  the  canyon,  and  were  soon 
after  killed  by  Indians. 

One  of  the  boats  was  by  this  time  nearly  worn 
out  by  the  rocks.  As  there  were  not  enough  men 
left  to  manage  three  boats,  this  one  was  left  behind. 
Major  Powell,  with  those  of  his  men  who  were 
still  with  him,  went  on  down  the  awful  river. 
The  very  next  day  they  ran  suddenly  out  into 
an  open  space.  They  had  at  last  got  out  of  the 
Grand  Canyon,  which  had  held  them  prisoners 
for  sixteen  days. 

They  went  on  down  the  river,  and  the  next 
day  after  this  they  found  some  settlers  drawing 
a  seine  or  net  to  catch  fish  in  the  river.  These 
settlers  had  heard  that  Major  Powell  and  his  men 
were  lost,  and  they  were  keeping  a  lookout  for 
any  pieces  of  his  boats  that  might  float  down 
from  above.  Food  of  many  kinds  was  sent  from 
the  nearest  settlement  to  feast  the  hungry  men 
who  had  so  bravely  struggled  through  the  Grand 
Canyon. 


THE-MAN-THAT-DRAWS-THE-HANDCART. 

GEORGE  NORTHRUP  was  but  a  boy  of  fifteen  when 
his  father  died.  Having  nothing  to  keep  him  at 
home,  he  went  to  the  Indian  country,  which  at  that 
time  was  in  Minnesota.  He  had  a  boyish  notion 
that  he  could  go  through  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  by 
making  his  way  from  one  tribe  to  another.  When 
he  was  eighteen  years  old,  a  few  years  before  the 
Civil  War,  he  tried  to  make  this  journey.  He 
loaded  his  provisions  into  a  handcart,  and  took  a 
big  dog  along  for  company.  For  thirty-six  days 
he  did  not  see  anybody,  or  hear  any  voice  but  his 
own.  Then  he  found  paths  made  by  Indian  war 
parties.  He  knew,  that,  if  one  of  these  parties 
should  find  him,  he  would  be  killed. 

One  morning  he  found  all  his  food  stolen  from 
his  handcart.  Either  Indians  or  wolves  had  taken 
it.  He  now  saw  how  foolish  his  boyish  plan  had 
been.  He  turned  back,  and  at  last  reached  a  trad 
ing  post,  almost  starved  to  death.  For  days  he  had 
had  little  to  eat  except  such  frogs  as  he  could 
catch. 

After  this  the  Indians  always  called  him  "  The- 
man-that-draws-the-handcart." 

As  he  grew  older,  he  became  a  famous  trapper 


1 84 

and  guide.  He  knew  all  about  the  habits  of 
animals.  He  could  shoot  with  a  better  aim  than 
any  Indian  or  any  other  white  man  on  the  frontier. 
He  often  walked  eighty  miles  in  a  day  across  the 
prairie.  He  could  manage  the  Indians  as  no  other 
man  could. 

This  strange  young  man  lived  among  rough  and 
wicked  men.  But  he  never  drank  or  swore,  or  did 
anything  that  anybody  could  have  thought  wrong. 
He  never  even  smoked,  as  other  men  about  him 
did,  but  he  lived  his  own  life  in  his  own  way. 
Everybody  loved  him  for  his  gentleness.  Every 
body  admired  him  for  his  courage  and  manliness. 
All  the  spare  money  he  got  he  spent  for  good 
books. 

When  winter  time  came,  he  would  sometimes 
hire  other  trappers,  who  did  not  know  the  country 
so  well  as  he  did,  to  work  for  him.  He  would  go 
away  beyond  the  settlements  and  set  up  a  camp. 
He  would  teach  the  other  men  how  to  trap.  When 
spring  came,  he  would  bring  many  furs  into  the 
settlement.  One  winter  he  camped  in  the  country 
of  the  Yankton  Indians.  He  had  six  men  with 
him.  The  Yanktons  were  wild  Indians,  and  North- 
rup  was  in  some  danger.  But  he  had  a  friend 
among  the  Indians,  a  chief  called  by  a  good  long 
name,  Taw-ton-wash-tah. 


But  all  the  Yanktons  were  not  friendly  to  the 
white  men.  There  was  one  chief  whose  name  was 
Old-man.  He  got  together  a  party  to  go  and  rob 
Northrup  and  drive  him  away.  Taw-ton-wash-tah 
tried  to  keep  these  Indians  from  going,  but  he 
could  not  do  it. 

Northrup  did  not  know  that  a  party  had  been 
sent  out  against  him.  His  men  went  on  with  their 
trapping,  while  George  went  hunting  to  get  food 
for  them.  They  had  only  a  small  bag  of  flour,  and 
this  they  did  not  eat.  They  kept  the  flour  for  a 
time  that  might  come  in  which  they  could  not  find 
any  animals  to  kill  for  meat. 

One  day  George  followed  the  tracks  of  an  elk. 
He  overtook  it  six  miles  from  his  camp.  He  crept 
up  to  it  and  shot  it.  Then  he  loaded  his  gun,  so 
as  to  be  ready  for  anything  that  might  happen. 
While  he  was  skinning  the  elk,  he  looked  up  and 
saw  the  heads  of  Indians  coming  up  over  a  little 
hill.  He  quickly  jumped  into  the  bushes.  He 
saw  that  there  were  thirteen  Indians  in  the  party. 
He  put  his  hand  on  his  bullet  pouch,  and  knew  by 
the  feeling  of  it  that  there  were  fifteen  bullets  in 
the  bag.  "  Every  bullet  must  bring  down  an 
Indian,"  he  said  to  himself. 

One  of  the  Indians  called  out  in  his  own  language, 
"  Is  The-man-that-draws-the-handcart  here  ?  " 


1 86 

George  quickly  replied  in  their  language,  "Stop I 
If  any  man  comes  one  step  nearer,  I  will  kill  him. 
Tell  me  whether  this  is  a  war  party  or  a  hunting 
party." 

One  of  the  Indians  stepped  out  in  front  and  fired 
off  both  barrels  of  his  gun.  This  was  a  sign  of 
friendship. 

Northrup  did  not  think  this  offer  of  peace  worth 
much;  but,  if  he  refused  it,  he  would  have  to  fight 
against  thirteen  Indians.  He  could  only  accept  it 
by  firing  off  both  barrels  of  his  gun.  This  would 
leave  him  with  his  gun  unloaded. 

But  he  slipped  the  cap  off  one  barrel  of  his  gun. 
Then  he  fired  the  other  barrel,  and  brought  down 
the  hammer  of  the  one  from  which  he  had  taken  the 
cap,  so  as  to  make  it  seem  that  that  barrel  of  his 
gun  was  empty.  Then  he  slyly  slipped  the  cap 
back  on  his  gun,  so  as  to  have  one  barrel  ready 
for  use. 

He  went  with  the  Indians  to  their  camp,  where 
he  was  a  kind  of  prisoner,  but  he  managed  to  load 
the  empty  barrel  of  his  gun  by  going  behind  a  tree 
where  the  Indians  could  not  see  him. 

He  knew  that  the  Indians  would  try  to  get  to  his 
camp  before  he  did.  As  his  men  did  not  know 
how  to  manage  Indians,  the  Indians  could  steal 
everything  in  the  camp..  If  they  should  take  his 


provisions,  George  and  his  men  might  starve  on 
the  prairies,  which  were  covered  with  snow. 

So  George  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  get 
to  his  camp  before  the  Indians,  or  lose  his  life  in 
trying. 

He  said  to  the  chief,  "  Old-man,  I  am  going 
home." 

He  did  not  wait  for  an  answer,  but  started  along 
the  trail  leading  to  his  camp.  He  expected  the 
Indians  to  shoot  him,  but  they  only  fell  into  line 
and  marched  behind  him. 

George  knew  that  if  the  Indians  got  into  the 
camp  with  him,  they  would  find  everything  scattered 
about.  Before  he  could  get  things  together,  they 
would  steal  most  of  them.  So  he  tried  once 
more  what  he  could  do  by  boldness.  He  turned 
and  said  to  the  chief,  "  My  men  are  new  men. 
They  do  not  know  Indians.  If  you  should  go 
in  with  me,  they  might  shoot.  It  is  better  that  I 
should  go  in  first,  and  tell  them  that  you  come 
as  friends." 

Old-man  said  "  Ho,"  which  is  the  way  that  a 
Yankton  has  of  saying  "  All  right." 

Northrup  went  into  the  camp,  and  gathered  every 
thing  together  in  one  place,  and  told  his  men  to 
keep  watch  over  the  things.  The  Indians  staid 
about  the  camp  two  days,  trying  to  get  a  chance  to 


(88 

rob  the  white  men,  but  Northrup  kept  his  eye  on 
them.  Once  he  found  one  of  his  men  without  a 
gun. 

"  Where  is  your  gun  ?  "  he  said. 

"  The  Indians  are  sitting  on  it,"  said  the  man. 
"  They  will  not  give  it  up." 

George  found  several  Indians  sitting  on  the  gun. 
He  took  hold  of  the  gun  and  looked  at  the  Indians. 
They  all  got  up.  It  seemed  that  they  could  not 
help  doing  what  he  wanted  them  to  do.  Northrup 
gave  the  gun  back  to  its  owner,  and  told  him  not  to 
let  it  go  out  of  his  hands  again. 

George  had  a  fine  double-barreled  rifle.  An 
English  gentleman  whose  guide  he  had  been  had 
sent  him  this  gun  from  London.  When  he  was  in 
his  tent  one  day,  he  heard  the  Indians  on  the  out 
side  of  it  disputing  who  should  have  his  gun.  He 
knew  by  this  that  they  meant  to  kill  him. 

George  patted  his  rifle  as  though  it  had  been  an 
old  friend,  and  said,  "  Well,  old  gun,  whoever  gets 
you  will  have  to  be  quick."  After  that  his  hand 
was  always  on  his  gun,  and  his  eye  was  always  on 
the  Indians. 

He  asked  his  men  where  the  sack  of  flour  was. 

"  Old-man  has  it,"  said  one  of  his  men. 

To  let  the  chief  keep  the  flour  was  to  run  the 
risk  of  starving,  but  Northrup  knew  that  if  he  took 


1 89 

it  away  there  might  be  a  battle.  He  stepped  up  to 
the  chief  and  took  the  bag  of  flour  from  his  side 
and  started  away  without  saying  a  word. 


"You  shall  go  South!  " 

"  Man-that-draws-the-handcart,"     said    the    chief 
angrily,  "  bring  back  my  flour." 


190 

George  stopped,  and  opened  his  coat.  He 
pointed  toward  his  heart  and  said,- 

"  Old-man,  if  you  want  to  kill  me,  shoot  me,  but 
you  shall  not  take  away  my  flour  and  leave  me  to 
starve." 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  chief  sternly,  "  then,  Man- 
that-draws-the-handcart,  you  shall  go  south." 

In  the  language  of  these  Indians,  to  go  south 
means  to  die.  They  think  the  soul  journeys  to  the 
southward  after  death.  Old-man  meant  to  say 
that  Northrup  should  die. 

"  Very  well,"  said  George,  looking  the  Indian  in 
the  eye,  "  I  will  go  south,  then  ;  but  if  I  go  south,  you 
shall  go  with  me,  and  just  as  many  more  as  I  can 
take.  Remember,  Old-man,  you  must  go  south  if 
I  do." 

Old-man  knew  Northrup  very  well.  He  knew 
that  if  anybody  tried  to  kill  him,  George's  sure  aim 
would  be  taken  at  Old-man  first  of  all.  George 
had  also  told  all  of  his  men  to  shoot  the  chief  if 
there  should  be  any  trouble. 

After  lingering  for  two  days,  the  Indians  stole  a 
bag  of  chopped  buffalo  meat,  or  pemmican,  and  an 
old  gun.  With  these  they  went  off,  and  George 
hurried  away  to  a  better  camping  place,  where  they 
could  not  find  him  again. 


THE  LAZY,  LUCKY  INDIAN. 

OUT  in  the  country  we  now  call  North  Dakota 
there  once  lived  an  Indian  known  as  "  Lazy- 
man."  When  he  was  young,  he  had  been  lazy 
about  hunting.  When  the  other  Indians  had  skins 
to  sell,  the  lazy  Indian  had  nothing.  He  grew  poor. 
His  blanket  was  ragged.  His  leggings  were  worn 
out.  His  wigwam  was  so  wretched  that  all  the 
tribe  laughed  at  its  tumble-down  look. 

Every  winter  the  tribe  went  off  to  the  great 
plains  to  hunt  buffalo.  They  took  their  little  ponies 
along,  to  carry  home  what  they  got.  They  brought 
back  the  skins  of  the  buffaloes  and  buffalo  meat 
dried  over  a  fire.  They  also  brought  back  pemmi- 
can,  which  is  made  by  chopping  buffalo  meat  very 
fine,  and  mixing  it  with  the  tallow  from  the  animal. 
Lazy-man  was  ashamed  to  go  on  the  hunt.  He 
had  no  ponies  to  carry  the  meat  and  the  skins  he 
might  get. 

One  winter,  when  the  tribe  went  off  on  its  regu 
lar  hunt,  Lazy-man  and  his  wife  staid  behind  as 
usual.  They  sat  lonesome  in  their  teepee,  as  a 
wigwam  is  called  in  their  language.  The  weather 
grew  colder.  It  was  hard  to  find  anything  to  eat. 
The  lake  near  them  was  frozen,  so  that  they  could 


192 

not  fish.  There  were  not  many  animals  living  in 
the  country  about.  The  lazy  Indian  and  his  wife 
were  nearly  starved. 

The  buffaloes  had  never  come  down  to  this  lake 
shore.     But  one  day  the  lazy  Indian  looked  out  and 


Buffaloes. 

saw  a  herd  of  them  coming.  They  were  running 
out  on  the  point  of  land  where  his  teepee  stood. 
He  knew  that  when  they  got  to  the  ice  on  the  lake 
they  would  turn  back. 

"  Quick,  quick!  "  he  called  to  his  wife.  The  two 
ran  right  into  the  midst  of  the  herd.  It  was  a 
dangerous  thing  to  do,  but  they  were  so  hungry 


193 

and  miserable  that  they  did  not  mind  the  danger. 
By  running  into  the  herd  they  separated  the  buffa 
loes  out  on  the  point  from  the  rest. 

When  the  buffaloes  on  the  point  came  to  the  ice, 
they  paused  and  turned  back.  They  were  soon 
running  in  the  other  direction,  but  the  lazy  Indian 
and  his  wife  faced  the  animals  as  they  came. 
They  waved  their  ragged  blankets  at  the  buffaloes. 
They  shouted  in  Indian  fashion,  "  Yow-wow,  yow- 
wow,  yow-wow ! "  They  ran  to  and  fro,  waving 
and  shouting. 

Once  more  the  buffaloes  stopped  and  looked. 
Lazy-man  and  his  wife  now  ran  at  them,  throwing 
their  blankets  in  the  air,  and  yelling  more  wildly 
than  ever.  The  scared  buffaloes  turned  about 
again.  They  were  so  badly  frightened  this  time 
that  they  ran  out  on  the  ice  on  the  lake. 

The  ice  was  as  smooth  as  glass.  The  buffaloes 
could  not  stand  up  on  it.  One  after  another  they 
slipped  and  fell.  The  lazy  Indian  was  not  lazy  that 
day.  He  saw  a  chance  to  get  out  of  his  poverty. 
He  ran  about  on  the  ice,  killing  the  buffaloes. 

For  many  days  he  and  his  squaw  worked.  They 
skinned  the  buffaloes,  and  dried  the  skins.  They 
prepared  the  stomachs  of  the  buffaloes,  and  stuffed 
them  with  the  chopped  meat,  making  it  look  like 
great  sausages  as  big  as  pillows.  They  put  a  few 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIFE —  13 


194 

cranberries  in  with  the  meat  to  give  the  pemmicar 
a  good  taste.  Then  they  poured  the  smoking  fat  ol 
the  buffalo  into  this  great  sausage.  The  fat  filled 
up  the  small  spaces.  When  it  got  cold,  the  pemmi- 
can  sack  was  almost  as  hard  as  a  stone.  It  could 
be  cut  only  by  chopping  it  with  a  tomahawk. 

At  last  spring  came,  and  the  tribe  came  home 
from  the  hunt.  You  may  suppose  that  Lazy-man 
was  proud  that  day.  Instead  of  being  the  poor 
beggar  whom  everybody  laughed  at,  he  was  now  one 
of  the  rich  men  in  the  tribe.  He  had  more  buffalo 
robes  and  more  pemmican  than  any  other  man  in 
the  village.  He  exchanged  his  buffalo  robes  for 
ponies.  After  that  he  always  went  on  the  hunt,  and 
lived  like  the  other  Indians.  He  did  not  wish  to 
sink  into  laziness  and  poverty  again. 


PETER  PETERSEN. 

A    STORY    OF   THE    MINNESOTA    INDIAN    WAR. 

PETER  PETERSEN  was  a  very  little  boy  living  in 
Minnesota.  He  lived  on  the  very  edge  of  the 
Indian  country  when  the  Indian  War  of  1862 
oroke  out. 

Settlers  were  killed  in  their  cabins  before  they 
knew  that  a  war  had  begun.  As  the  news 


195 

spread,  the  people  left  their  houses,  and  hurried 
into  the  large  towns.  Some  of  them  saw  their 
houses  burning  before  they  got  out  of  sight. 
The  roads  were  crowded  with  ox  wagons  full  of 
women  and  children. 

Peter  Petersen's  father  was  a  Norwegian  settler. 
When  the  news  of  the  Indian  attack  came,  Peter's 
father  hitched  up  his  oxen,  and  put  his  wife  and 
daughters  and  little  Peter  into  the  wagon.  They 
drove  the  oxen  hard,  and  got  to  Mankato  in 
safety. 

The  town  was  crowded  with  frightened  people. 
Many  were  living  in  woodsheds  and  barns.  In 
their  hurry,  these  country  people  had  not  brought 
food  enough  with  them.  Before  long  they  began 
to  suffer  hunger. 

Peter  Petersen's  father  thought  of  the  potato 
field  he  had  at  home.  If  he  could  only  go  back 
to  his  house  long  enough  to  dig  his  potatoes, 
his  family  would  have  enough  to  eat. 

When  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go,  Peter  wanted 
to  go  along  with  him.  As  there  were  now  soldiers 
within  a  mile  of  his  farm,  Peter's  father  thought 
the  Indians  would  not  be  so  bold  as  to  come  there. 
So  he  and  Peter  went  back  to  the  little  house. 

The  next  morning  Peter's  father  went  out  to 
dig  potatoes.  Peter,  who  was  but  five  years  old, 


196 

was  asleep  in  his  bed.  He  was  awakened  by  the 
yells  of  Indians.  He  ran  to  the  door  just  in  time 
to  see  his  father  shot  with  an  arrow. 

Little  Peter  ran  like  a  frightened  rabbit  to  the 
nearest  bushes.  The  Indians  chased  him  and 
caught  him.  They  were  amused  to  see  him  run, 
and  they  thought  he  would  be  a  funny  little 


plaything  to  have.  So  they  just  set  him  up  on 
the  back  of  a  cow,  and  drove  the  cow  ahead  of 
them.  They  laughed  to  see  Peter  trying  to  keep 
his  seat  on  the  cow's  back. 

The    little    boy    lived    among    the     Indians    for 


197 

weeks.  They  did  not  give  him  anything  to  eat. 
When  he  came  into  their  tents  to  get  food,  they 
would  knock  him  down.  But  he  would  pick  up 
something  to  eat  at  last,  and  then  run  away. 
When  he  could  not  get  any  food,  he  would  go 
out  among  the  cows  the  Indians  had  taken  from 
the  white  people.  Little  as  he  was,  he  would 
manage  to  milk  one  of  the  cows.  He  had  no 
other  cup  to  catch  the  milk  in  but  his  mouth. 
Whenever  any  of  the  Indians  threatened  to  kill 
him,  he  would  run  away  and  dodge  about  between 
the  legs  of  the  cows  or  among  the  horses,  so  as  to 
get  out  of  their  way.  Sometimes  he  was  so  much 
afraid  that  he  slept  out  in  the  grass,  in  the  dew 
or  rain. 

After  some  weeks,  Peter  and  the  other  captives 
were  retaken  by  the  white  soldiers  sent  to  fight 
the  Indians.  But  the  poor  little  boy  could  speak 
no  language  but  Norwegian.  He  could  not  tell 
whose  child  he  was,  nor  where  he  came  from.  His 
mother  and  sisters  had  left  the  dangerous  country 
near  the  Indians.  They  had  gone  to  Winona,  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  away.  One  of  his  sisters 
heard  somebody  read  in  the  paper  that  such  a 
little  boy  had  been  taken  from  the  Indians.  The 
kind-hearted  doctor  in  whose  house  she  lived 
tried  to  find  the  boy,  but  nobody  could  tell  what 


198 

had  become  of  little  Peter.  His  family  at  last 
gave  up  all  hope  of  seeing  him  again. 

When  Peter  was  taken  by  the  soldiers,  he  had 
worn  out  all  his  clothes  in  traveling  through  the 
prairie  grass.  He  had  nothing  on  him  but  part  of 
a  shirt.  The  soldiers  took  an  old  suit  of  uniform 
and  made  him  some  clothes.  He  was  soon  dressed 
from  top  to  toe  in  army  blue. 

He  was  as  much  of  a  plaything  for  the  soldiers  as 
he  had  been  for  the  Indians.  They  laughed  at  his 
pranks,  as  they  might  have  done  if  he  had  been  a 
monkey.  He  passed  from  one  squad  of  soldiers  to 
another.  They  fed  him  on  hard-tack,  and  shared 
their  blankets  with  him.  He  was  the  pet  and  play 
thing  of  them  all.  But  after  a  while  the  Indians 
were  driven  away  from  the  settlements,  and  the 
soldiers  were  ordered  to  the  South,  for  it  was  in 
the  time  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  regiment  that  Peter  happened  to  be  with  got 
on  a  steamboat,  and  Peter  went  aboard  with  them. 
The  soldiers  knew  that  if  Peter  should  be  taken  to 
the  South,  he  would  be  farther  than  ever  away  from 
his  friends.  So  the  soldiers  made  up  their  minds 
to  put  him  ashore  at  Winona.  It  was  the  last  place 
at  which  he  would  find  Norwegian  people.  To  put 
such  a  little  fellow  ashore  in  a  large  and  busy  place 
like  this  was  a  hard  thing  to  do.  Peter  was  hardly 


199 

more  than  a  baby,  and  he  could  not  speak  English. 
He  stood  about  as  much  chance  of  starving  to  death 
here  as  he  had  in  the  Indian  camp. 

When  the  boat  landed  at  Winona,  the  soldiers 
gave  some  money  to  one  of  the  hotel  porters, 
and  told  him  to  give  the  child  something  to  eat, 
and  send  him  out  into  the  country  where  there  were 
Norwegian  people.  But  as  soon  as  Peter  had  eaten 
the  dinner  they  gave  him  at  the  hotel,  he  slipped 
away,  and  went  back  to  the  river.  He  expected  to 
find  his  friends,  the  soldiers,  waiting  for  him;  but  the 
boat  had  gone.  Peter  was  now  in  a  strange  city, 
without  friends.  Not  without  friends,  either,  for 
his  sisters  were  in  this  same  city.  But  he  did  not 
think  any  more  of  getting  to  his  mother  or  his  sisters. 
He  was  only  thinking  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been 
so  kind  to  him. 

When  the  next  boat  came  down  the  river,  Peter 
Petersen,  in  his  little  blue  uniform,  marched  aboard. 
He  thought  he  might  overtake  the  soldiers,  but 
the  boatmen  put  him  ashore  again.  He  stood 
gazing  after  the  boat,  not  knowing  what  to  do  or 
where  to  go. 

There  stood  on  the  bank  that  day  a  Norwegian. 
He  was  a  guest  at  the  Norwegian  hotel  in  the 
town.  He  heard  Peter  say  something  in  his 
own  language,  and  he  thought  the  boy  must  be 


200 

a  son  of  the  man  who  kept  the  hotel.  So  he  said 
to  him  in  Norwegian,  "  Let's  go  home." 

It  had  been  a  long  time  since  Peter  had  heard  his 
own  language  spoken.  Nobody  had  said  anything 
to  him  about  home  since  he  was  taken  away  from 
his  father's  cabin  by  the  Indians.  The  words  sounded 
sweet  to  him.  He  followed  the  strange  man.  He 
did  not  know  where  he  was  going,  except  that  it  was 
to  some  place  called  home.  When  he  got  to  the 
hotel,  he  went  in  and  sat  down.  He  did  not  know 
what  else  to  do. 

Presently  the  landlady  came  in.    Seeing  a  strange 

ittle  boy  in  army  blue,  she  said,  "  Whose  child  are 

-\  jj 
you : 

Peter  did  not  know  whose  child  he  was.  Since 
the  soldiers  left  him,  he  didn't  seem  to  be  anybody's 
child.  As  he  did  not  answer,  the  landlady  spoke 
to  him  rather  sharply. 

"  What  do  you  want  here,  little  boy  ?  "  she  said. 

"  A  drink  of  water,"  said  Peter. 

A  little  boy  nearly  always  wants  a  drink  of 
water. 

"  Go  through  into  the  kitchen  there,  and  get  a 
drink,"  said  the  landlady. 

Peter  opened  the  door  into  the  kitchen,  and  went 
through.  In  a  moment  two  arms  were  about  him. 
Peter  knew  what  home  meant  then.  His  sister. 


201 

Matilda,  had  recognized  her  lost  brother  Peter  in 
the  little  soldier  boy.  The  next  day  he  was  put 
into  a  wagon  and  sent  out  to  Rushford,  where  his 
mother  was  living.  The  wanderings  of  the  little 
captive  were  over. 


THE   GREATEST   OF   TELESCOPE   MAKERS. 

THREE  great  inventors  in  this  country  were 
portrait  painters.  Fulton,  the  builder  of  steam 
boats,  was  one  of  them  ;  Morse,  who  planned  our 
irst  electric  telegraph,  was  another ;  and  Alvan 
Clark,  who  found  out  a  way  of  making  the  largest 
and  finest  telescopes  in  the  world,  was  another. 

Alvan  Clark  was  the  son  of  a  farmer.  When 
he  was  eighteen  years  old,  he  set  to  work  to  learn 
engraving  and  drawing.  He  had  no  teacher. 
After  a  while  he  began  to  draw  portraits.  Once 
he  sent  to  Boston  to  get  some  brushes  to  paint 
with.  When  the  brushes  came,  there  was  a  piece 
of  newspaper  wrapped  round  them.  In  this  bit  of 
newspaper  was  an  advertisement  that  engravers 
were  wanted.  He  went  to  Boston,  and  found  regu 
lar  work  as  an  engraver. 

When  he  was  not  busy  engraving,  he  was 
studying  painting.  After  some  years  he  became 


2O2 

a  painter  of  portraits  and  miniatures.  He  lived 
at  Cambridgeport,  near  Boston. 

While  Mr.  Clark  was  living  at  Cambridgeport, 
his  son  was  at  a  boarding  school.  The  young  boy 
had  become  interested  in  telescopes.  He  learned 
that  there  were  two  kinds  of  these  instruments. 
One  brought  the  stars  near  by  showing  them  in 
a  curved  mirror.  The  other  magnified  by  means 
of  glasses  that  the  light  shone  through.  He  had 
read  that  it  was  very  hard  to  grind  these  glasses 
or  lenses,  as  they  are  called,  so  that  they  would  be 
correct.  The  telescope  that  used  the  mirror  was 
not  so  good,  but  it  was  easier  to  make.  So 
George  Clark  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would 
make  a  reflecting  telescope;  that  is,  one  with  a 
mirror  in  it. 

The  mirror  in  such  a  telescope  is  made  of 
polished  metal.  One  day  somebody  broke  the 
dinner  bell  at  the  boarding  school.  George  Clark 
picked  up  the  pieces  of  brass  and  took  them 
home. 

These  pieces  of  brass  he  put  into  a  retort.  A 
retort  is  a  vessel  that  will  bear  great  heat,  and 
that  is  used  for  melting  metals  and  other  sub 
stances.  Young  Clark  put  some  tin  into  the 
retort  with  the  brass.  When  the  two  metals  were 
melted  together,  he  poured  the  liquid  into  a 


203 

mold.     When  it  became  cold,  it  was  a  round  flat 
piece.     Such  a  piece  is  called  a  disc. 

Alvan  Clark,  the  father,  was  a  very  ingenious 
man.  He  was  a  fine  marksman.  One  reason 
that  he  could  shoot  so  well  was  that  his  eye  was 
so  true.  Another  was  that  he  made  his  own  rifles, 
and  made  them  better  than  others. 

When  Mr.  Clark  found  his  son  trying  to  make 
a  telescope  out  of  the  pieces  of  a  bell,  he  became 
interested  in  telescopes.  He  studied  all  about 
them  in  order  to  help  the  boy  with  his  work.  He 
helped  his  son  grind  the  metal  disc  into  a  concave 
mirror;  that  is,  a  mirror  that  is  a  little  dish 
shaped.  With  this  they  made  a  telescope  with 
which  they  could  see  the  rings  of  Saturn,  and  the 
little  moons  that  revolve  round  Jupiter. 

After  Mr.  Clark  had  made  this  little  telescope, 
he  made  larger  reflecting  telescopes  that  were  very 
powerful.  But  he  found  that  no  telescope  with  a 
mirror  in  it  could  be  very  good. 

He  now  said  to  his  son  that  they  would  make 
a  refracting  telescope;  that  is,  one  in  which  no 
mirror  is  used,  but  which  brings  the  distant  stars 
to  the  sight  by  the  light  shining  through  lenses. 
Lenses  are  large  glasses  that  are  regularly  thicker 
in  one  part  than  in  another.  The  glasses  you 
see  in  spectacles  are  small  lenses. 


204 

George  Clark,  the  son,  told  his  father  that  the 
books  said  that  the  grinding  of  such  glasses  was 
very  difficult.  Mr.  Clark  would  not  give  it  up 
because  it  was  hard.  He  liked  to  do  hard  things, 
He  had  already  spent  a  great  part  of  his  money 
trying  to  make  good  reflecting  telescopes;  but 
he  made  up  his  mind  to  give  them  up,  and  try  to 
make  a  better  kind.  He  first  looked  through  the 
great  telescope  just  put  up  for  Harvard  College. 
The  large  lens  in  this  telescope  was  not  per 
fect,  and  Mr.  Clark's  eye  was  so  good  that  he 
could  see  what  the  small  fault  was.  When  he 
heard  "that  twelve  thousand  dollars  had  been 
paid  for  this  glass,  he  was  encouraged  to  try 
to  make  such  lenses.  But  there  was  nobody 
in  this  country  who  could  show  him  how  to 
do  it. 

He  first  got  some  poor  lenses  out  of  old  tele 
scopes.  These  he  worked  over,  and  made  them 
better.  By  this  means  he  learned  how  to  do  it. 
Then  he  got  some  discs  of  glass  and  made  some 
new  lenses.  These  were  the  best  ever  made  in  this 
country.  But  he  was  not  satisfied.  He  kept  on 
making  better  and  larger  lenses.  With  one  of 
these  he  discovered  two  double  stars,  as  they  are 
called.  These  had  never  been  seen  to  be  double 
before. 


205 

But  nobody  in  America  would  believe  that 
some  of  the  best  telescopes  in  the  world  were 
made  in  this  country,  for  even  the  English 
astronomers  had  to  get  their  telescopes  in  Ger 
many. 

With  one  of  his  telescopes,  larger  than  any  he 
had  made  before,  Mr.  Clark  now  made  a  new  discov 
ery.  He  wrote  about 
this  to  an  English 
astronomer  named 
Dawes.  Mr.  Dawes 
thought  that  a  tele 
scope  that  could  make 
such  a  discovery  would 
be  worth  having,  so  he 
bought  the  large  lens 
out  of  this  new  tele 
scope.  Then  he  bought 
other  glasses  from  Mr. 
Clark,  and  sold  them 
again  to  other  astron 
omers.  In  this  way 
Mr.  Clark  became 
famous  in  England. 
Mr.  Clark  had  given 

Telescopic  View  of  the  Moon. 

up  painting.     He  put 

his  whole  heart  into  making  the  best  telescopes  in  the 


206 

world.  He  went  to  England  and  saw  the  great 
astronomers,  and  looked  through  their  telescopes. 

They  were  glad  to  see  the  man  who  made  the 
best  lenses  in  the  world.  His  telescopes  had 
helped  them  to  find  out  many  new  things  never 
seen  before.  By  this  time  Mr.  Clark  was  coming 
to  be  known  in  his  own  country.  He  got  an  order 
to  make  the  largest  glass  ever  made  for  a  telescope 
in  the  whole  world.  This  was  to  be  put  up  in 
America.  Nobody  had  ever  dreamed  of  making 
so  large  and  powerful  a  telescope. 

After  a  long  time  the  great  glass  for  this  telescope 
vvas  ground.  Mr.  Clark  set  it  up  to  try  it.  His 
younger  son,  Alvan,  who  was  helping  him,  turned 
the  telescope  so  as  to  look  at  the  bright  star  Sirius. 
As  soon  as  he  had  looked,  he  cried  out  in  surprise, 
"  Why,  father,  the  star  has  a  companion!"  Sirius 
is  a  sun.  It  has  a  satellite,  a  dark  star  like  our 
world  revolving  round  it.  Nobody  had  ever  been 
able  to  see  this  dark  star  before.  But  this  telescope 
was  stronger  than  any  that  had  ever  been  pointed 
at  the  sky. 

Mr.  Clark  now  looked  through  the  tube  himself. 
Sure  enough,  there  was  the  companion  of  Sirius, 
never  seen  before  by  anybody  on  the  earth.  The 
large  glass  which  had  been  a  year  in  making 
had  won  its  first  victory.  But  Mr.  Clark  made 


207 

much  larger  glasses  even  than  that  one.  He  had 
nobody  to  show  him  how.  But  by  patient  thought 
and  hard  work  he  had  made  the  greatest  telescopes 
in  the  world.  Medals  and  other  honors  were  sent 
to  him  from  many  countries. 


ADVENTURES    IN    ALASKA. 


Scene  in  Alaska. 

THE  Copper  River  of  Alaska  flows  from  north 
to  south  into  the  ocean.  The  Yukon  River,  which 
is  farther  north,  runs  from  the  east  toward  the  west. 
It  was  known  that  the  waters  of  these  two  rivers 
must  be  near  together  at  the  place  from  which  they 
started  in  the  mountains,  but  it  was  not  known 


208 

whether  anybody  could  pass  from  the  valley  of  the 
Copper  River  over  the  mountains  into  the  valley  of 
the  Yukon.  A  scouting  party  was  sent  to  find  out 
whether  the  crossing  from  one  river  to  the  other 
could  be  made.  This  party  returned,  saying  that 
it  was  impossible  to  pass  from  the  Copper  River 
to  the  Yukon,  because  the  mountains  were  too  high 
and  steep. 

In  1885  General  Miles  sent  Lieutenant  Allen 
to  try  to  find  a  pass  from  the  valley  of  the  Copper 
River  to  that  of  the  Yukon.  Lieutenant  Allen 
was  a  very  determined  man.  He  set  out  with  the 
resolution  to  find  some  way  of  crossing  the  moun 
tains,  however  much  labor  and  suffering  it  might 
cost.  He  took  two  soldiers,  and  had  two  other 
white  men  with  him,  and  he  got  Indians  to  go 
with  him  from  place  to  place  as  he  could.  The 
party  started  up  the  Copper  River  in  March. 
From  the  first  their  sufferings  were  very  great. 
They  had  to  travel  day  after  day,  and  sleep  night 
after  night,  with  their  clothes  wet  to  the  skin. 
They  soon  found  that  they  could  not  take  their 
canoe,  on  account  of  the  ice.  They  had  to  leave 
most  of  their  provisions,  because  they  could  not 
carry  them.  Some  nights  they  sat  up  all  night 
in  the  rain. 

But  when   they  got  to  a  country  where  it  was 


209 

not  raining  all  the  time,  they  had  a  way  of  keeping 
dry  at  night.  They  had  brought  along  sleeping 
bags.  These  were  made  of  waterproof  linen. 
Each  bag  was  a  little  longer  than  a  man.  It  had 
draw  strings  at  the  top.  They  put  a  folded  blanket 
inside,  and  then  pushed  the  blanket  down  with 
their  feet  so  that  it  would  wrap  about  them  and 
keep  them  warm.  Then  they  drew  the  strings 
about  the  top.  This  kept  the  body  dry. 

They  suffered  a  great  deal  from  hunger.  There 
were  very  few  animals  in  the  country  where  they 
were,  and  most  of  the  Indians  they  found  had  but 
little  to  eat.  Lieutenant  Allen's  party  were  some 
times  glad  to  pick  up  scraps  of  decayed  meat  or 
broken  bones  about  an  Indian  camp  to  make  a 
meal  on.  Much  of  the  meat  and  fish  they  had  to 
eat  was  badly  spoiled.  They  grew  so  weak  that 
it  was  hard  for  them  to  climb  up  a  hill,  carrying 
their  guns  and  their  food.  They  sometimes  reeled 
like  drunken  men  when  they  walked. 

They  would  have  perished  from  hunger  if  they 
had  not  had  a  man  with  them  who  knew  how 
to  stop  the  rabbits  when  they  were  running.  This 
man  could  make  a  little  cry  just  like  a  rabbit's  cry. 
Whenever  a  rabbit  heard  this  sound,  he  would  stop 
and  look  round  for  a  moment.  Then  the  hunter 
would  have  a  chance  to  shoot  him. 

EGGL.  AMER.  LIKE 14 


210 

But  these  rabbits  were  so  small  and  so  lean  that 
it  took  four  or  five  of  them  to  make  a  meal  for  a 
man.  At  one  place  the  party  were  so  hungry  that 
an  Indian  who  was  with  them  fainted  away.  When 
they  reached  a  house  soon  after,  where  there  lived 
a  chief  named  Nicolai,  they  found  a  five-gallon 
kettle  full  of  meat  boiling  on  the  fire.  They  drank 
large  quantities  of  the  broth,  and  ate  about  five 
pounds  of  meat  apiece.  Much  of  this  meat  was 
pure  tallow  from  the  moose.  They  all  fell  asleep 
immediately  after  eating.  When  they  awaked,  they 
were  almost  as  hungry  as  before. 

At  last  they  reached  the  head  waters  of  the 
Copper  River.  Here  they  found  the  hungry  In 
dians  waiting  for  the  salmon  to  come  up  from  the 
sea,  as  they  do  every  year.  As  long  as  the  salmon 
are  in  the  river,  the  Indians  have  plenty  to  eat.  So 
they  kept  dipping  their  net,  hoping  to  catch  some 
salmon.  At  last  one  little  salmon  was  caught.  It 
was  a  thin,  white-looking  little  fish.  The  Indians 
now  knew  that  in  two  or  three  days  they  would  have 
plenty.  They  hung  their  little  fish  on  a  spruce 
bough,  and  they  kept  visiting  it,  singing  to  it  with 
delight.  The  white  men  did  not  wait  for  the  sal 
mon  to  arrive. 

From  this  place  they  left  the  Copper  Riven  and 
started  to  cross  the  mountains.  This  was  the  pass 


211 


through  which   it  was   said  that 
nobody  could  go.     Lieutenant 
Allen  and  his  men  were 
obliged  to  carry  pro 
visions     with 
them.      Part 
of    the   pro- 


A  Dog  Pack  Train. 


visions 

they  carried  them 
selves  :  the  rest 
they  packed  on 
dogs.  This  is  a 
way  of  carrying  things  used  only  in  Alaska.  A 
pack  is  strapped  on  a  dog's  back  just  as  though 
he  were  a  mule,  and  with  this  the  little  dog  goes 
on  a  long  journey  through  the  mountains. 

The  party  started  over  the  mountains  in  June. 
At  this  season  of  the  year  in  that  country  the 
sun  shines  almost  all  night,  and  it  is  never  dark. 
Lieutenant  Allen's  party  traveled  either  by  day 
or  by  night,  as  they  pleased,  as  there  was  always 
light  enough. 

When  they  got  to  the  foot  of  the  last  mountains 
they  had  to  climb,  they  found  a  little  lake.  Here 


212 

they  got  some  fish  to  eat,  but  the  salmon  had  not 
come  yet.  They  hired  some  Indians  to  go  with 
them,  and  divided  the  weight  of  everything  into 
packs.  Every  man  carried  a  pack,  and  every  dog 
carried  as  much  as  he  could  bear.  As  they  climbed 
the  mountains,  they  could  look  back  over  the  beauti 
ful  valley  of  the  Copper  River.  Still  hungry  and 
nearly  tired  out,  they  pushed  on  until  they  camped 
by  a  brook  in  the  mountains. 

Here  they  found  that  the  salmon  had  come  up 
the  Copper  River  from  the  sea,  and  had  run  up 
this  brook  and  overtaken  them.  The  fish  were 
crowding  up  the  brook  to  get  to  a  little  lake  at 
the  head  of  it,  where  they  would  lay  their  eggs. 
In  some  places  there  was  so  little  water  in  the 
stream  that  the  fish  had  to  get  over  the  shallow 
places  by  lying  on  their  sides.  In  doing  this, 
some  of  them  threw  themselves  out  of  the  water 
on  the  land.  The  hungry  men  could  catch  them 
easily,  and  they  now  had  all  they  wanted  to 
eat.  One  of  the  party  ate .  three  large  salmon, 
heads  and  all,  for  his  supper.  As  the  sun  shines 
almost  all  the  time  in  the  Arctic  regions,  in  the 
summer,  the  days  become  very  hot.  On  the  last 
day  of  Lieutenant  Allen's  journey  up  the  moun 
tains  the  heat  was  so  great  that  the  party  did  not 
start  until  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  They 


213 

reached  the  top  of  the  mountains  that  divided 
the  two  rivers  at  half -past  one  o'clock  that  night. 
Though  it  was  what  we  should  call  the  middle 
of  the  night,  it  was  not  dark. 

The  party  were  now  nearly  five  thousand  feet 
higher  than  the  sea.  At  half-past  one  in  the 
morning  the  sun  was  just  rising.  It  rose  almost 
in  the  north.  Behind  them  the  men  could  still 
see  the  valley  of  the  Copper  River.  Before  them 
lay  the  valley  of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Yukon, 
with  twenty  beautiful  lakes  and  a  range  of  moun 
tains  in  sight.  White  and  yellow  buttercups  were 
blooming  about  them,  though  the  snow  was  within 
a  few  feet.  No  white  man  had  ever  looked  on  this 
grand  scene  before.  The  men  forgot  their  hunger 
and  their  weariness.  They  had  done  what  hardly 
anybody  thought  could  be  done. 

A  mile  further  on  they  stopped  to  build  a  fire, 
and  here  they  cooked  the  last  bit  of  extract  of  beef 
that  they  had  with  them.  It  was  the  end  of  all  the 
provisions  they  had  carried.  Having  gone  to  bed 
at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  they  did  not 
start  again  until  two  in  the  afternoon ;  for  day  and 
night  were  all  one  to  them,  except  that  the  light 
nights  were  cooler  and  pleasanter  to  travel  in  than 
the  days. 

They  were  told  by  the  Indians  that  by  marching 


2I4 

all  that  night  they  could  reach  an  Indian  settle 
ment,  and,  as  they  had  no  food,  they  determined 
to  do  this.  In  this  whole  day's  march  they  killed 
but  one  little  rabbit,  which  was  all  they  had  for  nine 
starving  men  to  eat.  But  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  next  day  the  tired  and  hungry  men 
dragged  themselves  into  the  little  Indian  village. 
Guns  were  fired  to  welcome  them. 

The  fish  were  coming  up  the  river.  A  kind  of 
platform  had  been  built  over  the  water.  On  this 
platform  the  Indians  stood  one  at  a  time,  and 
dipped  a  net  into  the  water  for  fish.  All  day  and 
all  night  somebody  was  dipping  the  net. 

The  Indians  had  never  seen  a  white  man  before. 
They  were  very  much  amused  to  see  white  faces, 
and  one  of  the  white  men  who  had  red  hair  was 
a  wonder  to  them. 

Allen  and  his  men  got  food  here.  Then  they 
built  a  skin  canoe,  and  started  down  the  river. 
After  many  more  hardships  and  dangers,  they 
reached  the  ocean,  and  then  took  ship  for  Cali 
fornia. 


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NEW    CENTURY    HISTORY 
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By  EDWARD  EGGLESTON 

BY  THE  SAME   AUTHOR 

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Reading  for  Second  Year) 40 

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for  Third  Year) 50 


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UNITED  STATES  was  not  only  the  last  literary 
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^J  The  treatment  is  well  proportioned,  emphasis  being  laid 
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reading,  the  appendix  containing  short  biographies  of  great 
men,  the  text  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  helpful  index. 

^[  The  numerous  illustrations  consist  of  pictures  of  cele 
brated  men  and  scenes,  and  form  an  attractive  and  instructive 
supplement  to  the  text.  The  maps  are  clear,  and  not  over 
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IN  UNITED  STATES  HISTORY 

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By  FRANCIS  H.  WHITE,  A.M.,   Professor  of  History 
and  Political  Science,  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College 


A  BLANK  book,  which  is  intended  for  the  pupil's  use  in 
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on  the  learner's  mind.  The  entire  development  of  the  United 
States  has  been  taken  up  in  the  most  logical  manner,  and  facts 
of  a  similar  nature  have  been  grouped  naturally  together. 
^j  This  material  is  in  the  form  of  outline  maps,  charts,  tables, 
outlines  for  essays,  book  references,  etc.,  with  full  directions 
for  the  pupil,  and  suggestions  to  the  teacher.  Students  are 
required  to  locate  places,  trace  routes,  follow  lines  of  develop 
ment,  make  pictures  of  objects  illustrating  civilization,  write 
compositions,  etc. 

^j  The  use  of  this  book  has  demonstrated  that  the  teaching  of 
history  need  no  longer  present  any  difficulties  to  the  teacher. 
Mere  memorizing  is  discouraged,  and  the  pupil  is  compelled 
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leading  authorities.  The  interest  thus  instilled  will  invariably 
lead  to  a  sufficient  grasp  of  the  subject. 

^[  The  body  of  the  book  is  divided  into  the  following  general 
headings:  The  Indians;  Discovery  and  Exploration;  Coloniza 
tion;  The  Development  of  Nationality ;  Military  History; 
The  Progress  of  Civilization;  Political  History;  and  Our 
Flag  and  Its  Defenders.  While  none  of  these  periods  is 
treated  exhaustively,  each  is  taken  up  so  comprehensively  and 
suggestively  that  further  work  can  be  made  easily  possible 
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on  industrial,  commercial-,  and  political  geography,  with  just 
enough  physiography  to  bring  out  the  causal  relations. 
^[  The  text  is  clear,  simple,  interesting,  and  explicit.  The 
pictures  are  distinguished  for  their  aptness  and  perfect  illus 
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f  The  INTRODUCTORY  GEOGRAPHY  develops  the 
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lesson  paving  the  way  for  the  next.  In  the  treatment  of  the 
United  States  the  physiographic,  historical,  political,  industrial, 
and  commercial  conditions  are  taken  up  in  their  respective 
order,  the  chief  industries  and  the  localities  devoted  largely  to 
each  receiving  more  than  usual  consideration.  The  country 
is  regarded  as  being  divided  into  five  industrial  sections. 
^[  In  the  SCHOOL  GEOGRAPHY  a  special  feature  is 
the  presentation  of  the  basal  principles  of  physical  and  general 
geography  in  simple,  untechnical  language,  arranged  in  num 
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introductory  lessons  after  the  remainder  of  the  book  has  been 
completed.  With  a  view  to  enriching  the  course,  numerous 
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JENKINS'S  PHYSIOLOGIES 

By  OLIVER  P.  JENKINS,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Physiology 
and  Histology,  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University. 


Primary  Lessons  in  Human  Physiology  and  Health $0.30 

Physiology  and  Hygiene 50 


JENKINS'S   Physiologies  afford    an   introduction   to   the 
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or  not  as  fancy  dictates ;  and  right  living  becomes  a  natural 
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extremists. 

^|  Throughout  the  aim  has  been  to  make  the  study  essentially 
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The  physiology  of  each  system  is  first  taken  up,  and  then  this 
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STEPS    IN    ENGLISH 

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fessor  of  English,  Fifth  Avenue  Normal  High  School, 
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^[  From  the  start  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  base  the  work 
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MILNE'S      PROGRESSIVE 
ARITHMETICS 

By  WILLIAM  J.  MILNE,   Ph.D.,  LL.D.,   President  of 
New  York  State  Normal  College,  Albany,  N.  Y. 


THREE  BOOK  SERIES 
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Third  Book 45 


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Usefulness  is  the  keynote. 

^[  In  the  First  and  Second  Books  the  amount  of  work  that 
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THE     ELEANOR     SMITH 
MUSIC    COURSE 

By  ELEANOR  SMITH,  Head  of  the  Department  of 
Music,  School  of  Education,  University  of  Chicago, 
Director  of  Hull  House  Music  School. 


THIS  music  series,  consisting  of  four  books,  covers  the 
work  of  the  primary  and  grammar  grades.     It  contains 
nearly   a    thousand    songs  of  exceptional   charm   and 
interest,  which  are  distinguished  by  their  thoroughly  artistic 
quality  and  cosmopolitan  character.      The  folk  songs  of  many 
nations,   selections  from  the  works   of  the   most    celebrated 
masters,  numerous  contributions  from  many  eminent  Ameri 
can    composers,    now    presented    for    the    first    time,    are 
included. 

(|  The  Eleanor  Smith  Music  Course  is  graded  in  sympathy 
with  the  best  pedagogical  ideas — according  to  which  every 
song  becomes  a  study,  and  every  study  becomes  a  song. 
Technical  points  are  worked  out  by  means  of  real  music, 
instead  of  manufactured  exercises;  complete  melodies,  instead 
of  musical  particles.  Each  technical  point  is  illustrated  by  a 
wealth  of  song  material.  A  great  effort  has  been  made  to 
reduce  to  the  minimum  the  number  of  songs  having  a  very 
low  alto. 

||  The  course  as  a  whole  meets  the  demands  of  modern 
education.  Modern  life  and  modern  thought  require  the 
richest  and  best  of  the  past,  combined  with  the  richest  and 
best  of  the  present,  so  organized  and  arranged  as  to  satisfy 
existing  conditions  in  the  school  and  home.  The  series 
is  world  wide  in  its  sources,  universal  in  its  adaptation, 
and  modern  in  the  broadest  and  truest  sense  of  the 
word. 


AMERICAN     BOOK     COMPANY 


WEBSTER'S 
SCHOOL     DICTIONARIES 

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T 


HESE  Dictionaries  have  been  thoroughly  revised, 
entirely  reset,  and  made  to  conform  to  that  great  stand- 
ard  authority  —  Webster's  International  Dictionary. 


WEBSTER'S  PRIMARY  SCHOOL  DICTION 
ARY  $0.48 

Containing  over  20,000  words  and  meanings,  with  over 
400  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  COMMON  SCHOOL  DICTION 
ARY $0.72 

Containing  over  25,000  words  and  meanings,  with  over 
500  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  HIGH  SCHOOL  DICTIONARY,  $0.98 

Containing  about  37,000  words  and  definitions,  and  an 
appendix  giving  a  pronouncing  vocabulary  of  Biblical, 
Classical,  Mythological,  Historical,  and  Geographical  proper 
names,  with  over  800  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  ACADEMIC  DICTIONARY 

Cloth,  $1.50;   Indexed $1.80 

Half  Calf,  $2.75  ;  Indexed 3.00 

Abridged  directly  from  the  International  Dictionary,  and 
giving  the  orthography,  pronunciations,  definitions,  and 
synonyms  of  about  60,000  words  in  common  use,  with  an 
appendix  containing  various  useful  tables,  with  over  800 
illustrations. 

SPECIAL  EDITIONS 

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Webster's  Pocket  Dictionary 57 

The  same.      Roan,  Flexible 69 

The  same.      Roan,  Tucks 78 

The  same.      Morocco,  Indexed    ...        .90 


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